Question

What produces more severe burns, boiling water or steam?

Answer 1

Steam contains more heat in the form of latent heat of vaporization, thus steam has more energy than boiling water. So, when steam falls on skin and condenses to produce water it gives out $22.5\times {10}^{5}J/kg$ more heat than boiling water at the same temperature. Therefore, burns produced by steam are more severe than those produced by boiling water.