Question

What produces more severe burns, boiling water or steam?

Answer 1

Steam produces more severe burns than boiling water. This is because steam has more energy than boiling water, present in it in the form of latent heat of vaporization.

Answer 2

Steam causes more severe burns than boiling water. The reason is that it releases the extra amount of heat (latent heat) which it has already taken during vaporisation (when the steam was formed from water).