question: if water has to be 100° to become steam. How come you dont get heavily burned in saunas? Or the shower?
comment: What we often call steam is just water vapor that has started to become visible (condense) due to different temperatures of the water vs air. Water vapor can exist at many temperatures. Just like "steam" from a pond on a cold fall morning won't burn you, neither will steam in a 40C sauna. But keep your hands away from the steam coming from a boiling pot... and no dessert til you finish your vegetables.
passages: Under many circumstances, temperatures approaching and exceeding would be completely intolerable and possibly fatal if exposed to long periods of time. Saunas overcome this problem by controlling the humidity. The hottest Finnish saunas have relatively low humidity levels in which steam is generated by pouring water on the hot stones. This allows air temperatures that could boil water to be tolerated and even enjoyed for longer periods of time. Steam baths, such as the Turkish bath, where the humidity approaches 100%, will be set to a much lower temperature of around to compensate. The "wet heat" would cause scalding if the temperature were set much higher.
   Section::::Energy requirements.
  
  The energy required to heat water is significantly lower than that needed to vaporize it, for example for steam distillation
   In a typical Finnish sauna, the temperature of the air, the room and the benches is above the dew point even when water is thrown on the hot stones and vaporized. Thus, they remain dry. In contrast, the sauna bathers are at about , which is below the dew point, so that water is condensed on the bathers' skin. This process releases heat and makes the steam feel hot.
   Section::::Technologies.:Continuous heat-type.
  
  Section::::Technologies.:Continuous heat-type.:Continuous fire sauna.
  
  A continuous fire stove, instead of stored heat, is a relatively recent invention. There is a firebox and a smokestack, and stones are placed in a compartment directly above the firebox. It takes shorter time to heat than the heat storage-sauna, about one hour. A fire-heated sauna requires manual labor in the form of maintaining the fire during bathing; the fire can also be seen as a hazard.
  
  Fire-heated saunas are common in cottages, where the extra work of maintaining the fire is not a problem.
  
  Section::::Technologies.:Continuous heat-type.:Electric stove sauna.
   Section::::Generation and delivery.:Vaporizers and direct liquid injection.
  
  Vaporizers atomize water and then combust the small droplets into molecular water. The heat of vaporization is very high and the ability to the get the energy to the water molecule is limited by the heater transfer rate through the vaporizer plate and the carrier gas that is mixed in with the water vapor. In addition, the water is aggressive and can corrode the vaporizer internal components, leading to long term stability and reliability issues.
   A common arrangement where hot-water space heating is employed is for a boiler also to heat potable water, providing a continuous supply of hot water without extra equipment. Appliances that can supply both space-heating and domestic hot water are called "combination" (or "combi") boilers. Though on-demand heaters provide a continuous supply of domestic hot water, the rate at which they can produce it is limited by the thermodynamics of heating water from the available fuel supplies.
  
  Section::::Types of water heating appliances.:Electric shower heads.
   An electric shower head has an electric heating element which heats water as it passes through. These self-heating shower heads are specialized point-of-use (POU) tankless water heaters, and are widely used in some countries.
   Once warmed stoves have larger amount of stones that are warmed up before the bathing. This can be done by burning wood, with or without chimney, oil, wood pellets, or natural gas. Continuously warmed stoves have lower amount of stones that are heated during the bathing. The warming can be done burning wood, oil or natural gas, or electrically.
  
  The temperature in Finnish saunas is , usually , and is kept clearly above the dewpoint despite the vaporization of "löyly" water, so that visible condensation of steam does not occur as in a Turkish sauna.
  
  Section::::Types of sauna.:Smoke sauna.
   More complex designs can involve passing the water through pumps and heat exchangers and employing nuclear reactors or solar heating, it is estimated that these can give a specific impulse of over 195 s I, which is still well below the standards of more complex designs, for example the 465 s of the hydrogen-oxygen Vinci engine.
  
  Section::::Applications of steam rockets.
  
  BULLET::::- An aeolipile is pushed around by steam rockets
  
  BULLET::::- Evel Knievel's Skycycle X-2 used for the Snake River Canyon jump used a steam rocket designed by Robert Truax
   There is a wide range of electric showers, with various types of heating controls. The heating element of an electric shower is immersed in the water stream, using a nichrome resistance element which is sheathed and electrically isolated, like the ones used in oil heaters, radiators or clothes irons, providing safety. Due to electrical safety standards, modern electric showers are made of plastic instead of using metallic casings like in the past. As an electrical appliance that uses more electric current than a washer or a dryer, an electric shower installation requires careful planning, and generally is intended to be wired directly from the electrical distribution box with a dedicated circuit breaker and ground system. A poorly installed system with old aluminum wires or bad connections may be dangerous, as the wires can overheat or electric current may leak via the water stream through the body of the user to earth.
   The use of combustible reactants is not essential with the pulsation reactor. Both combustible and non-combustible reactants can be used in it.
  
  The even temperature distribution in the reactor well and the narrow residence time distribution prevents the formation of hard aggregates whilst allowing the homogenous treatment of material.
  
  The temperature range covered by the pulsation reactor is considerably higher than in spray dryers, for example, so that gentle drying is only possible to a certain extent but a combination of drying and calcination is feasible.
  
  Section::::Specific process features.:Properties of the pulsation reactor.
   Section::::Comparison with thermal bathing in other cultures.:Sweat lodges in the Americas.
  
  In North America, the use of sweat lodges by Native Americans is similar in concept to the smoke saunas of Finland or the black "banya" and was recorded as early as 1643. There is evidence of the use of sweat lodges in Mesoamerica before the European arrival, such as the Temazcal which is still used in some regions of Mexico and Central America.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Public bathing
  
  BULLET::::- Destination spa
  
  BULLET::::- Hot tub
  
  BULLET::::- Steam shower
  
  BULLET::::- Bannik
  
  Section::::External links.
  
  BULLET::::- Banya: Russian baths
   Many firetube boilers heat water until it boils, and then the steam is used at saturation temperature in other words the temperature of the boiling point of water at a given pressure (saturated steam); this still contains a large proportion of water in suspension. Saturated steam can and has been directly used by an engine, but as the suspended water cannot expand and do work and work implies temperature drop, much of the working fluid is wasted along with the fuel expended to produce it.
  
  Section::::Combustion.:Water tube boiler.
   Scalds can be more severe when steam impinges on the naked skin, because steam can reach higher temperatures than water and transfers latent heat by condensation. On the other hand when clothes are soaked with hot water the heat transfer is often of a longer duration since the body part can not be removed from the heat source as quickly. 
   BULLET::::- Convection (cooking in a hot-air environment, without feeding in additional steam) - temperatures range from 30 °C (86 °F) to 250 °C (482 °F) or 300 °C (572 °F), depending on the model.
  
  BULLET::::- Superheated steam (a combination of the two methods named above) - temperatures range from 30 °C (86 °F) to 250 °C (482 °F) or 300 °C (572 °F).
   BULLET::::- Low temperature polymer fuel cell membranes can be poisoned by the carbon monoxide (CO) produced by the reactor, making it necessary to include complex CO-removal systems. Solid oxide fuel cells (SOFC) and molten carbonate fuel cells (MCFC) do not have this problem, but operate at higher temperatures, slowing start-up time, and requiring costly materials and bulky insulation.
  
  BULLET::::- The thermodynamic efficiency of the process is between 70% and 85% (LHV basis) depending on the purity of the hydrogen product.
  
  Section::::See also.
  
  BULLET::::- Biogas
  
  BULLET::::- Cracking (chemistry)
  
  BULLET::::- Hydrogen pinch
  
  BULLET::::- Hydrogen technologies
  
  BULLET::::- Industrial gas
  
  BULLET::::- Lane hydrogen producer
   In the nuclear plant field, "steam generator" refers to a specific type of large heat exchanger used in a pressurized water reactor (PWR) to thermally connect the primary (reactor plant) and secondary (steam plant) systems, which generates steam. In a nuclear reactor called a boiling water reactor (BWR), water is boiled to generate steam directly in the reactor itself and there are no units called steam generators.
   Cases also exist where the ignition factor is not the activation energy. For example, a smoke explosion is a very violent combustion of unburned gases contained in the smoke created by a sudden fresh air input (oxidizer input). The interval in which an air/gas mix can burn is limited by the explosive limits of the air. This interval can be very small (kerosene) or large (acetylene).
  
  Water cannot be used on certain type of fires:
  
  BULLET::::- Fires where live electricity is present – as water conducts electricity it presents an electrocution hazard.
   Section::::Types of water heating appliances.:Geothermal heating.
  
  In countries like Iceland and New Zealand, and other volcanic regions, water heating may be done using geothermal heating, rather than combustion.
  
  Section::::Types of water heating appliances.:Gravity-fed system.
   An air-only torch will burn at around 1,995 °C (3,623 °F), less if heat loss to the surroundings is taken into account. Even glass bead-making torches, which are essentially Bunsen burners with an added air pump, can only achieve actual operating temperatures of . Oxygen-fed torches can be much hotter at up to 2,820 °C (5,110 °F), depending on the fuel-oxygen ratio, and whether MAPP or propane gas is used. Actual flame temperatures are generally lower due to incomplete combustion and heat loss to the surroundings.
   In tropical countries, like Singapore and India, a storage water heater may vary from 10 L to 35 L. Smaller water heaters are sufficient, as ambient weather temperatures and incoming water temperature are moderate.
  
  Section::::Types of water heating appliances.:Point-of-use (POU) vs centralized hot water.
   A water vapor explosion creates a high volume of gas without producing environmentally harmful leftovers. The controlled explosion of water has been used for generating steam in power stations and in modern types of steam turbines. Newer steam engines use heated oil to force drops of water to explode and create high pressure in a controlled chamber. The pressure is then used to run a turbine or a converted combustion engine. Hot oil and water explosions are becoming particularly popular in concentrated solar generators, because the water can be separated from the oil in a closed loop without any external energy. Water explosion is considered to be environmentally friendly if the heat is generated by a renewable resource.
   The ideal water vapor for industrial manufacturing processes is extremely pure, moderate in temperature and free of extra oxygen or water microdroplets. In addition, this water vapor is ideally delivered in a range of flow rates from standard cubic centimeters per minute (sccm) to standard litre per minute (slm), into vacuum or atmosphere pressure environments for days or weeks at a time.
   Purity is paramount in avoiding contamination. Purity can be achieved by blending pure gases under high heat or by purifying water vapor as it is generated. In either case, the piping and instrumentation must be carefully chosen to avoid adding metals, particles or other contaminants back into the water vapor.
   Superheated steam is not suitable for sterilization. This is because the superheated steam is dry. Dry steam must reach much higher temperatures and the materials exposed for a longer time period to have the same effectiveness; or equal F0 kill value. Superheated steam is also not useful for heating. Saturated steam has a much higher wall heat transfer coefficient.
  
  Slightly superheated steam may be used for antimicrobial disinfection of biofilms on hard surfaces.
  
presuppositions: All water has to be 100 degrees to be steam and should burn. Steam only exists in temperatures that are 100 degrees.
corrections: Water vapor can be in the air at lower temperatures and not casues burn because it is not that hot. Steam can exist at many different temperatures.
raw_presuppositions: All water has to be 100 degrees to be steam and should burn. Steam only exists in temperatures that are 100 degrees.
raw_corrections: Water vapor can be in the air at lower temperatures and not casues burn because it is not that hot. Steam can exist at many different temperatures.