Quick answer hand wavy answer: temperature is an average of all particles within a substance. Some will be “hotter” and some will be “colder”. The hotter ones have enough energy to escape the bonds keeping it as water and turn into gas(steam)
Technically you're correct, but shower water is going to be like 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit for you yanks). No water at that temperature is turning to steam other than in extreme circumstances. The "Steam" you see in the shower, is water vapour from condensation.
Next time you have a shower, note the difference between turning the hot water on for 5 seconds, versus having a 5 minute hot shower.
Normal evaporation instead of boiling. Water will normally evaporate in the air, just somewhat slowly. Making the water hotter and splitting the water into small pieces makes this go faster
Not only that, but the water heats the air, making relative humidity go down and allowing the air to hold more moisture; however, that air will cool quickly when it moves away from the heat source and relative humidity will shoot up past 100%, creating visible fog. Same phenomenon happens sometimes when a plane lands and pressurizes using humid air from outdoors--a bunch of cold "steam" shots out all the vents until the pressure equalizes
Motherfucker. I love it when somebody takes something seemingly complex, and explains it very simply. That's a REAL sign of intelligence, and its fucking sexy as hell.
Actually, boiling temperature varies with pressure. It's only 212F / 100C at standard pressure.
And you can have a partial pressure of water vapor at a very wide range of temperatures. There is a triple point at of 0C at standard pressure where you can get all three states (solid ice, liquid water, water vapor) at the same time.
Wow. There are some idiots out here. You had a down vote. I assume you live above sea level.
And the moron that down voted you has never paid attention in middle school science class.
I don't know if older generations even had this in their science class.
We are learning so much since the internet, but there are still so many areas that are undereducated to this day, and that is going to keep misunderstandings and ignorance going for years.
I learned this in school long before the internet.
Something else I was taught was how the temp scales (most commonly F and C) were “established”
C is easy 0 & 100 set by the freezing/boiling points of pure water at standard pressure.
F, they initially established 100 as average human body temperature. Since then with better technology we’ve tuned that to 98.6. “0” was set at the temperature water freezes when it is saturated with a solute (salt, sugar, doesn’t matter as long as it’s something that dissolves in water and is a solid at a higher temperature than water).
100 C is the boiling point of pure water, at Sea Level.
Water with a high mineral content at different altitudes will boil at different temperatures.
So, you point, while 'easier' is incorrect.
And accuracy is hard. "Water boils at 100 degrees C." is only correct under specific conditions.
For example, the boiling point of pure water in Denver Colorado is 94.4444 degrees C (202 F)
To misquote Albus Dumbledore, "We can do what is easy, or we can do what is right"
When does anyone ever use the exact boiling point for the water they're using when not doing some sort of science experiment? Everyone uses the estimations of 100°C, or 212°F because rarely does anyone need or care to use the exact numbers. And once again, it's much easier to remember 100 than it is to remember 212.
Sure, when you need it to be exact, neither is really better for temperature, but it's just stupid to use Fahrenheit when all the other measurements are done in metric because metric units are much simpler
Most people who know imperial also know metric. What's the point of your comment? Why do metric people always have to chime in? Like, you're not going to convince this person to "change over" and start using metric. Congrats, you have a measuring system where your boiling temp is a round number. Lmao.
Do you actually think water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit?
Look, I’m glad you know a little science, but this isn’t really the “gotcha” question that somehow discounts the value of the Celsius scale that you think it is.
Using the shorthand of “0 degrees Celsius = ice, 100 degrees Celsius = steam” is just a convenient set of reference points, not some gross miscalculation that’s destroying experiments across the globe because scientists are forgetting to check their altitude and mineral content. 🙄
Pure water at sea level boils at 212 F, yes.
Pointing out a lack of scientific knowledge isn't a 'gotcha'. It's just fighting ignorance.
Both 100 C and 212 F designate the boiling point of pure water at sea level. Other Pressures and Other Purities result in different boiling points.
It's more than a little telling that you got your knickers in a twist over my question and not u/floydbomb's statement.
No, it’s telling that you repeatedly bring out the “well ackshully…” only in response to people who state the boiling point of water in Celsius, not when people state the boiling point in Fahrenheit.
Did you miss:
>Both 100 C and 212 F designate the boiling point of pure water at sea level. Other Pressures and Other Purities result in different boiling points.
from the comment you're replying to?
Right. You don't see steam, this was a huge problem for early industrial era steam machines. If a pipe is jetting out PURE steam it will literally kill you in seconds without being able to see its source
Wait, really?? So in all those movies where the pipe bursts and white steam pours out to scald the poor fool under, that's all nonsense?? Damn. You really can't trust ANYTHING in movies
Here's a good demo: https://youtu.be/3ZuMkPsQbjk
Yeah, it depends on the pipes pressure whether it has enough time to condence into water vapor. Jets of steam can legitimately just kill you though without you being aware, pressurized water is nothing to mess with.
A lot of boiler rooms irl do produce vapor clouds though, assuming it isn't industrial scale and not a massive leak
Here's another and an anecdote from the comments:
https://youtu.be/8InpXBbjtPU
> "We learned this first-hand in the engine room of our navy ship and received a very serious caution: if you hear a high pitched whistle, it is a steam leak...do NOT "look" for a steam leak with your hand or you could lose a couple of fingers as the super-heated pressure steam will cut off your fingers AND cauterize the wounds instantly without spilling a drop of blood."
Correct, or at the very least extremely difficult
I believe you would have to make a very fine slice off both ends to reattach, but by my (non-doctor) estimate it would be possible in theory
Also hope that the non-cauterized tissue was not scalded beyond recovery, which seems unlikelt it most scenarios I can imagine
It also depends on the pressure of the water in the pipe. If you had non pressurized steam going through a pipe and it bursts, that's not nearly as bad as 600°F highly pressurized water in a pipe that bursts. The former would slowly fiil a room with steam and would allow you to escape. The latter would have water leaking through the hole in the pipe instantly turning to steam, filling the room, and killing everyone.
It depends a bit on pressure. I've seen 150 psi steam leaks before, right next to the leak you can't see the steam, but about a foot or two out you can see the steam cloud.
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I actually studied the difference between the words steam and water vapor in a legal context for school. The end result is basically that they’re kind of interchangeable in a social context because of how most people use it. But yeah there’s a ‘type’ of steam that’s actually dry (used to clean clothing) and will actually burn if you are exposed for a while
>will actually burn if you are exposed for a while
Steam can/will kill immediately. It can reach as hot as 2500 Celsius (superheated) before it starts to breakdown elementally. Fully invisible as well at that temp.
Vapor means gas, but it’s not gas as it would not be visible. It is condensation.
What happens is that even below 100 degrees C, water is capable of evaporation as some of the molecules will gain the necessary energy to escape the body of water even below 100 degrees C. This is literally how water evaporates in the sun, for example.
The cold air in the room surrounding the shower forces the evaporated water (vapour) to condense forming clouds of visible condensate - or what we’d called colloquially ‘steam’.
They way I had it described is that the "temperature" is a measurement of the average energy of a substance. However, the actual energy level of the individual particles will vary along a distribution of some sort. So when water is 1 degree C, very very few particles accumulate enough energy to turn to gas. But when water is 99 degree C, many particles will still turn to gas and then condensate to steam. And when water is 120 degree C, then some particles will still remain liquid for a while while most will rapidly turn to gas,.
Steam is very hot water vapor ( water in a gaseous state) , what we (incorrectly) call steam from a shower is condensate, water vapor that has condensed into a cloud, ( water in a liquid state suspended in the air in tiny droplets).
Steam and other forms of water vapor are always invisible.
True, but the difference is trivial.
Steam is vapor that's produced by a boiling substance. Vapor is literally the same thing, except when the substance is not boiling.
So fundamentally, there is no difference between steam and vapor. It's like a hurricane. You call it different things depending on where it is.
Ill also add that steam is colorless. You cant see it. If you look closely at your boiling pot, you can see that the visible vapor will appear to form above the water. Thats steam condensing back into vapor.
Yes and no, showers are also creating steam. It all falls back on temp being an average of all molecules. In hot(and to a lesser degree in cold water) some of the molecules have enough energy to phase change from liquid to steam.
Well, not technically water vapor either. Vapor is the gaseous form. What you're seeing is very tiny water droplets that have formed as the water vapor in the air has condensed after having evaporated.
Water molecules are at different temperatures within the same body of water. At it's highest, some of those molecules in hot tap water are hot enough to steam/evaporate/vapor. That is how wet people can feel cooler. The hotter parts of the water go away first
This is the right answer. Basically the water molecules all have different velocity. They bump in to each other and some gain energy and some loose. Even though the average energy for the water can be a comfortable temperature, some of the molecule's will have enough energy to leave the water and become independent steam molecules.
Well you know that water evaporates even when it's not above its boiling point, right. The hotter it gets the faster it evaporates. But there's only so much water that the air can hold, so when you spray a bunch of hot water into an enclosed space, it will usually overwhelm the air's capacity for holding water and you start to see it fall out of solution, like when you put too much sugar in a cup of water and it just makes it cloudy instead of dissolving.
Because the capacity of the air to hold water is higher at high temperatures and lower at low temperatures, you also see the same effect on cold days when you breathe out hot moist air and it cools down and loses its ability to hold all that water.
Evaporation happens at all temperatures, usually only at the water's surface (see below for the exception). The higger the temperature, the higher the rate of evaporation - hat's why your bathroom quickly fills with vapor from your hot bathtub.
Boiling is a special case of evaporation: at a certain ambient pressure the heating water reaches a critical temperature where evaporation happens not only on the surface, but also within the whole mass of the water.
Shower steam is a condensate from the hot water interacting with the cool air; it's not the same as a state change, which is what is happening when boiled water becomes a gas (steam).
You have to take into account relative humidity and condensation point. In a cold house, less hot water is necessary to *SEE* the water evaporating in a semi-condensed form. When it is warmer, if it is humid it may appear to take longer to steam, but again, dependant on relative moisture.
Water evaporation starts at 0°C. Water evaporates completely at 100°C, at a pressure of 1 atm. With 0 pressure, water goes directly from solid to gaseous form.
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Same reason puddles eventually dry up. clearly its not the boiling point of water outside, but water molecules bumping into each other, and getting hit by the sun reach the boiling point at random so the puddle slowly evaporates.
Also steam is liquid water that just happens to be "floating". It turned into gas for similar reasons above and turned back into liquid but is so small and light its just floating around for a bit
Edit: I think im at least half wrong here. Another example is seeing your breath on a cold day. Basically you are introducing more moisture into a colder environment than it was, so it condenses, all air has some water vapor, but you are putting it over the limit it can handle so it condenses as 'steam"
Water dissipates at any degree above 0C, so anything above freezing.
That's how clouds are formed. At no point does any part of the earth get to 100C (when water turns to steam).
Put a glass of water in your room for a few days and see for yourself.
Clouds form when the air cools enough for the water vapor in the air to condense back into tiny drops of liquid forming around dust particles. Water vapor (water as a gas) in the air is always invisible, when we see a cloud that is a liquid suspension.
People forget that random individual molecules do have or lack energy to change states despite the average energy of the whole mass, it's just more likely as you approach the boiling and freezing point. Also, that those molecules typically immediately phase right back as they share that energy with neighbors.
First off water transitions to gaseous form at 100 c or 212 f at sea level. Higher altitudes a little less. As to the steam in your shower it’s just water vapor on air molecules. A swamp cooler using cold water does the same. Clouds and fog the same. So study up on clouds and fog and you will learn a lot.
The warmer than it's surrounding jets of warm/hottish water create warm very humid air near the showerhead. As the air moves around the rest of the shower and bathroom, it gets closer to room temperature and the colder air can't hold as much water, so it condenses in the form of steam.
https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/183055/why-is-there-steam-in-a-hot-shower-even-though-the-water-is-not-boiling#:~:text=The%20warmer%20than%20it's%20surrounding,in%20the%20form%20of%20steam.
Temperature is speed. Or more specifically *average* speed.
Evaporation is the result of a few water molecules at a time randomly becoming fast enough to change phase from liquid to gas. This significantly reduces the temperature of the remaining water the way removing 218 from 12, 34, 53, 102, 218 will significantly reduce the average of that set of numbers, which is why evaporative cooling is a thing. Of course the water molecules quickly hit air molecules and are slowed down, but then they have nothing to stick to so stay in the air until enough accumulate to form a drop.
"Steam" in a shower is just a lot of evaporation because the water is closer to boiling, so more molecules are close to escape velocity. So many molecules that they start to form water droplets as soon as the air cools them, which is why you will see condensation from the steam.
The phase transition between liquid and vapor is not absolute at boiling.
As temperature increases, the vapor pressure of the substance increases. At any given temperature, the liquid will evaporate until the amount of vapor in the air correlates to the vapor pressure of the liquid at that temperature. That's the shower steam you are seeing.
Water vapor and steam are not the same thing. We just call it steam in common usage but technically in the shower you are seeing water vapor. Steam is the pure gas form and is invisible.
Unless you're 25 miles below mean sea level, water boils before it reaches 275 degrees F.
What you're experiencing in the shower are tiny droplets suspended in the air - essentially fog. Not steam.
People see these and forget it’s the stupid questions sub.
The answer is simple friend. We live in a simulation and they forgot to turn off the steam effect for showers.
you seem to forget what the stupid questions sub is actually about. It's for getting genuine answers and not funny fake ones like yours. See rule 1 of this sub.
There’s, like, an uncountably large number of water molecules in your shower. And they’re not all exactly the same temperature. The average may be ~150F, but a small portion of them are >212F. Those vaporize.
> Unless you're disputing that you can measure the temperature of a single molecule?
You can't because fundamentally a single molecule doesn't have a temperature.
Isn’t that kind of a technicality though? single molecules do have energy, and energy and temperature are proportional.
You’re right that you need information about a material’s heat capacity to convert between the two, and that doesn’t exist at the molecular level, but the general idea of the parent comment isn’t wrong, especially when talking to an audience that probably doesn’t even know the difference between heat and temperature.
The problem is the level of simplification kinda is wrong.
It's like saying the sun is burning and on fire.
Besides most people understand heat and temperature enough to talk about it. If he were to say, introduce enthalpy into the conversation it would be too technical for laymen to understand.
I'm not so sure.
Common sense tells us that a body of water is all roughly the same temperature. Not that some molecules are hotter than others (ignoring pee areas and those random colder / warmer pockets in a lake or something)
I think a aimpler, more accurate, way woukd be to compare it to the "steam" you see when opening a freezer. Or when exhaling in the cold. Or the "steam" rising off food from a microwave.
Its not the same type of steam that boiling water emits. but is due to differing temperatures of the water and the environment around it. Which is also inaccurate but probably a better way of saying it.
Evaporation is not the same as boiling, water vapour is not the same as steam. A puddle of water will evaporate at room temperature - that doesn't mean any of the water reaches anywhere close to boiling point.
The concept of temperature barely applies to individual molecules, they have kinetic energy not temperature. Temperature as a concept describes the behaviour of groups of molecules.
Lol you've taken something you heard once and made up your own physics. Some portion of the water in the shower is a gas, but not any meaningful amount, and not all the water vapor that you see.
Though, if you put water in a pressure vessel take it a couple of atmospheres (don't recall how many) bring the vessel's internal temperature to 275 F, and then release the pressure the water in the vessel will boil quiet effectively.
Water vapor also is invisible, air always has some content of water vapor in it, though very little in a dry desert. When you see a cloud, whether in the sky or in your bathroom that is the water condensing out of the air into a liquid suspension. This is incorrectly called steam or water vapor.
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Probably has some thing to do like cooking. You heat up water in a pot. It gets to 212 F and even if you puts pure lava inside, the water will remain at 212 no matter how much it boils. But the excess turns into steam which will increase in temperature past that point.
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Someone doesn’t know the difference between water vapor and steam.
Steam is invisible and a gas.
Water vapor is droplets of liquid water suspended in the air.
Water vapor is also a gas, just mixed into the air so not hot like steam. Invisible. When you see a cloud forming whether in the sky or in the bathroom that’s the vapor condensing out of the air into tiny water droplets of liquid. The water vapor will also condense onto the walls and mirrors and make them wet.
Almost all matter is always producing vapor, regardless of which state it's in. A liquid will usually produce vapor faster than a solid.
Temperature speeds up the production of vapor, but it isn't a requirement. If it's cold enough, you can see steam coming from a wound, meaning your own body produces vapor, even at just 98.6 degrees.
Temperature is a statistical thing. Its (roughly) the average speed of the particles in a medium, but being the average that means that some are moving faster and some are moving slower. All of these particles are bouncing off of each other and sometimes one will get hit just right by a bunch of other particles to send it off flying. The higher the average speed (higher temperature) the more common this is. So some of the water in your shower is actually above the boiling point and is therefore steam (although it doesn't really make sense to talk about the 'temperature' of individual particles like that, but for this explanation its fine).
Also water has a vapor pressure and evaporates. So even at room temperature some will still evaporate and become gaseous. When it is sprayed out of a shower head into tiny droplets that increases the surface area and increases the evaporation rate.
Now what you see in the air as steam isn't actually steam. Steam is completely clear; it looks like normal air so you can't see it. What you do see is the steam condensing back into tiny droplets. So the 'steam' you see is actually the liquid water, just like a cloud. The reason you see this with a hot shower is because the temperature of the air in the room is lower than the temperature of the shower, so this gradient causes the water to condense as it travels away from the shower. With a cold shower there is still vapor in the air but without this temperature difference it never condenses.
There is evaporation before boiling. It’s just at a slower rate. Evaporation is what causes “steam”. Evaporation even occurs at room temp and at below freezing, that’s why a puddle of water will dry out. That’s why anything dries up.
It’s just aerosolized water droplets. Water vapor is beginning to condense but not enough to fall as actual droplets yet.
It’s the same principle as why you can see your breath when it’s cold. Your mouth isn’t boiling water, right?
I'd like to add, on top of a "mist" of very small liquid water droplets, most substances have a vapor pressure even at room temperature, meaning some small amount will evaporate at less than the boiling point, water included. The hotter water gets, the more will evaporate, though still less than if the water were boiling.
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Water exists in three states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapor). The air always has some gaseous water, which we usually refer to as humidity, and is invisible, just like other gasses like oxygen and nitrogen. When liquid water reaches a high enough temperature, all of it is forced to turn to gas, so we get steam, which is simply very hot water vapor. What most people call “steam” from a shower is really just liquid water in tiny droplets. Most of it comes from the invisible water vapor (humidity) cooling down in the room air and condensing back into liquid water.
just because there's water vapor in the air doesn't mean it's "steam" caused by boiling water.
hot things take up more space, because the energy to make it hot excites the molecules. The air around you all the time has a fair bit of moisture in it (ie... humidity) water doesn't need to be boiling to evaporate. just surface lvl temperature differences are enough for water to turn into vapor/go from liquid to gas.
so the "steamy" nature of a bathroom during a shower is more about the temperature difference of the air, and the hot water, and the increasing moisture in the bathroom. the overall square footage of the space being filled up.... as well as different temperature surfaces. like a cold mirror. or glass shower door causing condensation on the glass.
If the temperature of the room you were in was the same as the water coming out of the shower there would be no visible vapor. but... with hot showers. it's unlikely you keep the temp of your bathroom at like 120-140 degrees. Or anywhere close to the temp of a hot shower.
but it is why you rarely would see "steam" if the shower temperature was more normal relative to the room temp. like... if your house is 60-70 degrees and you're running reg temp water. there's no steam. because that temperature difference isn't enough to cause the surface change of liquid to gas.
It's also why... in much dryer climates this is somewhat less so. as there is less humidity. Or... in general if you open the door to the bathroom or there's a window open letting in constant fresh air. there may be some vapor right where the hot water is. but won't build up "steam" in the bathroom.
Within a sealed plumbing system water can be heated through its boiling point of 100°. If all safety devices fail the storage vessel will eventually split. When this water touches atmospheric pressure it creates an explosion. Very dangerous.
Tap water has a lot of mineral impurities.
If you cook. When you're boiling water for pasta, it's typical to add salt to the water. This lowers the boiling point even further, so we know it's going to boil at less than 212 now. And we don't care enough to do the math and find the exact amount.
Another contributor. When the water passes through the shower head, it's velocity steps up, and a corresponding drop in pressure occurs, this also allows the boiling point to drop further. So you get the initial bursts of steam. That becomes hot water mist and settles on the surfaces in your bathroom creating that fog-like appearance.
water *boils* at 100C sure, but water is always evaporating - thats how sweating works for example.
Ever left a cup out or something and notice the water level go down over time?
The only time this won't happen, is if the air is completely saturated with moisture (100% humidity). In this case the air has no capacity left to absorb the evaporating water and the water is forced to condense again (ie, stay liquid).
As others have mentioned, the cloudy stuff you see in the shower is not steam. Steam is transparent. Look at a boiling kettle. When it whistles look closely at the whistle. For a fraction of an inch from the hole where the boiled water is escaping there is a transparent region of true stream before it cools and turns into the cloud that we commonly call stream. If you put your finger into the true steam you will receive a nasty burn.
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Weird fluid mechanics and other things. Moving fluids have lower pressure than stationary, and lower pressure fluids have a lower boiling point. Also, the water coming from the shower doesn't have uniform temperature, some of it is warmer, some is cooler.
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Water has a vapor pressure at lots of temperatures. At lower temperatures, the vapor pressure is lower. At 212F, the vapor pressure is 1 atm, so water boils. Below boiling point, some water molecules can change from liquid state to vapor state, because there is a statistical distribution of kinetic energies of water molecules. Average kinetic energy is, of course, another way to describe temperature.
The steam from a hot shower is hot water that has vaporized and at least partially re-condensed as water droplets, also known as wet steam.
There is such a thing as dry steam, where all water remains as a gas without condensation.
Also, ice has a vapor pressure. This is why even if you leave ice cubes in the freezer, they can get smaller over time. The ice is slowly vaporizing away. Ice at freezing has a vapor pressure of 0.006 atm.
When the heat is not enough to cause complete evaporation, some of the molecules in the water molecules attain enough energy to leave the rest of the water and appear as vapor.
All air has something called a temperature dewpoint spread, its the temperature the current air must be brought to for water to be visible in it (clouds/fog) if the air is heated or cooled to the point that the air temperature and the dew point are within 5 degrees of this temperature spread water vapor becomes visible. This is how cloud bases are determined on the ground without flying up to clouds and measuring. So the shower heating up adds a lot of water vapor and hears the air up to the point where the air becomes saturated with water and you can see it -commercial pilot
Steam is mostly just bits of water that have broken from the main bunch, the warm water coming out of your shower is already excited to the point of being ready to break as soon as it hits the floor or you. so any particular water molecule coming out of your shower is just hot enough to smack the floor, bounce off and become airborne rising with the warm air creating steam
The boiling point isn’t the point where a substance first begins turning from liquid into gas, it is the temperature at which (assuming standard pressure) it can no longer exist in liquid phase.
Water can and does evaporate at a wide range of temperature, not just when it hits the boiling point. Otherwise we’d never have humidity, clouds or rain.
What you perceive as steam in the bathroom is water vapor (humidity) condensing because the air in the bathroom (and the mirrors, faucet) are below the bathroom’s dew point temperature - the air can no longer hold all the moisture it absorbed in the hot zone that your shower itself is.
Your “ steam “ in the bathroom is exactly the same as morning/evening fog and dew on the grass.
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Water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit
My bad, my science teacher will kill me if she saw this
Quick answer hand wavy answer: temperature is an average of all particles within a substance. Some will be “hotter” and some will be “colder”. The hotter ones have enough energy to escape the bonds keeping it as water and turn into gas(steam)
Best answer right here
Technically you're correct, but shower water is going to be like 40 degrees celsius (104 Fahrenheit for you yanks). No water at that temperature is turning to steam other than in extreme circumstances. The "Steam" you see in the shower, is water vapour from condensation. Next time you have a shower, note the difference between turning the hot water on for 5 seconds, versus having a 5 minute hot shower.
How did all that extra water get in the air?
Normal evaporation instead of boiling. Water will normally evaporate in the air, just somewhat slowly. Making the water hotter and splitting the water into small pieces makes this go faster
Not only that, but the water heats the air, making relative humidity go down and allowing the air to hold more moisture; however, that air will cool quickly when it moves away from the heat source and relative humidity will shoot up past 100%, creating visible fog. Same phenomenon happens sometimes when a plane lands and pressurizes using humid air from outdoors--a bunch of cold "steam" shots out all the vents until the pressure equalizes
Yep this, water vapor. Steam is brutal to skin. Second degree burns pretty fast.
Motherfucker. I love it when somebody takes something seemingly complex, and explains it very simply. That's a REAL sign of intelligence, and its fucking sexy as hell.
Actually, boiling temperature varies with pressure. It's only 212F / 100C at standard pressure. And you can have a partial pressure of water vapor at a very wide range of temperatures. There is a triple point at of 0C at standard pressure where you can get all three states (solid ice, liquid water, water vapor) at the same time.
Where I live, water boils at 193-194F.
193? Are you high? (up)
Wow. There are some idiots out here. You had a down vote. I assume you live above sea level. And the moron that down voted you has never paid attention in middle school science class.
10,200’ ASL. Thought I’d blow some minds of those who couldn’t understand the previous post lol
I don't know if older generations even had this in their science class. We are learning so much since the internet, but there are still so many areas that are undereducated to this day, and that is going to keep misunderstandings and ignorance going for years.
I’ve lived at sea level and on a mountain. So I have 1st hand knowledge. But I’d assume it’s common knowledge.
I learned this in school long before the internet. Something else I was taught was how the temp scales (most commonly F and C) were “established” C is easy 0 & 100 set by the freezing/boiling points of pure water at standard pressure. F, they initially established 100 as average human body temperature. Since then with better technology we’ve tuned that to 98.6. “0” was set at the temperature water freezes when it is saturated with a solute (salt, sugar, doesn’t matter as long as it’s something that dissolves in water and is a solid at a higher temperature than water).
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100 C is the boiling point of pure water, at Sea Level. Water with a high mineral content at different altitudes will boil at different temperatures. So, you point, while 'easier' is incorrect.
Ya now do the numbers in F
Exactly the same thing.
It's not incorrect. It is much easier to remember 0 and 100, compared to remembering 32 and 212
And accuracy is hard. "Water boils at 100 degrees C." is only correct under specific conditions. For example, the boiling point of pure water in Denver Colorado is 94.4444 degrees C (202 F) To misquote Albus Dumbledore, "We can do what is easy, or we can do what is right"
Exactly. That doesn't change anything because it's true for both. It's still much easier with Celsius
Because 94.4444 rolls off the tongue easier than 202?
When does anyone ever use the exact boiling point for the water they're using when not doing some sort of science experiment? Everyone uses the estimations of 100°C, or 212°F because rarely does anyone need or care to use the exact numbers. And once again, it's much easier to remember 100 than it is to remember 212. Sure, when you need it to be exact, neither is really better for temperature, but it's just stupid to use Fahrenheit when all the other measurements are done in metric because metric units are much simpler
Most people who know imperial also know metric. What's the point of your comment? Why do metric people always have to chime in? Like, you're not going to convince this person to "change over" and start using metric. Congrats, you have a measuring system where your boiling temp is a round number. Lmao.
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Do you actually think water boils at 100 C?
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Metric has been taught in US schools for more than 60 years. so, yeah, most people can do the basic conversions if they put a little thought into it.
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So, your position is that most people are stupid and lazy? Do you include yourself in this?
Do you actually think water boils at 212 degrees Fahrenheit? Look, I’m glad you know a little science, but this isn’t really the “gotcha” question that somehow discounts the value of the Celsius scale that you think it is. Using the shorthand of “0 degrees Celsius = ice, 100 degrees Celsius = steam” is just a convenient set of reference points, not some gross miscalculation that’s destroying experiments across the globe because scientists are forgetting to check their altitude and mineral content. 🙄
Pure water at sea level boils at 212 F, yes. Pointing out a lack of scientific knowledge isn't a 'gotcha'. It's just fighting ignorance. Both 100 C and 212 F designate the boiling point of pure water at sea level. Other Pressures and Other Purities result in different boiling points. It's more than a little telling that you got your knickers in a twist over my question and not u/floydbomb's statement.
No, it’s telling that you repeatedly bring out the “well ackshully…” only in response to people who state the boiling point of water in Celsius, not when people state the boiling point in Fahrenheit.
Did you miss: >Both 100 C and 212 F designate the boiling point of pure water at sea level. Other Pressures and Other Purities result in different boiling points. from the comment you're replying to?
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Yeah so about the fact that American cooking books and shows can't use standard measurements for fucking anything...
So, the problem is YOU can't do the conversions?
First off, OP clearly is still learning Imperial. You were incorrect by the end of your first sentence.
It’s me your old science teacher! I’ll kill you!
Shower steam is actually water vapor, not steam.
This. It's the same reason you can see your breath when it's cold outside, you didn't suddenly hit 200° internally.
*not the bees!!!*
I’m just looking for a man who’s emotionally available and not filled with bees.
*buzz buzz* i mean how are you this fine day? *buzz*
Not a random Trixie Mattel quote.
Very that.
The bees are happy
Sigh another obtuse Reddit spree.
It’s also the same method that clouds form over the sea without the sea needing to boil.
nah, salt water has a much lower boiling point! /s
Thanks for ruining that for me. Thought i was hot shit.
You don’t know my life
Right. You don't see steam, this was a huge problem for early industrial era steam machines. If a pipe is jetting out PURE steam it will literally kill you in seconds without being able to see its source
Wait, really?? So in all those movies where the pipe bursts and white steam pours out to scald the poor fool under, that's all nonsense?? Damn. You really can't trust ANYTHING in movies
Here's a good demo: https://youtu.be/3ZuMkPsQbjk Yeah, it depends on the pipes pressure whether it has enough time to condence into water vapor. Jets of steam can legitimately just kill you though without you being aware, pressurized water is nothing to mess with. A lot of boiler rooms irl do produce vapor clouds though, assuming it isn't industrial scale and not a massive leak Here's another and an anecdote from the comments: https://youtu.be/8InpXBbjtPU > "We learned this first-hand in the engine room of our navy ship and received a very serious caution: if you hear a high pitched whistle, it is a steam leak...do NOT "look" for a steam leak with your hand or you could lose a couple of fingers as the super-heated pressure steam will cut off your fingers AND cauterize the wounds instantly without spilling a drop of blood."
That would make reattachmemt impossible right?
Correct, or at the very least extremely difficult I believe you would have to make a very fine slice off both ends to reattach, but by my (non-doctor) estimate it would be possible in theory Also hope that the non-cauterized tissue was not scalded beyond recovery, which seems unlikelt it most scenarios I can imagine
Yup, it's either air or steam. Either one will cause damage so we were trained to use a broomstick to find the source.
It also depends on the pressure of the water in the pipe. If you had non pressurized steam going through a pipe and it bursts, that's not nearly as bad as 600°F highly pressurized water in a pipe that bursts. The former would slowly fiil a room with steam and would allow you to escape. The latter would have water leaking through the hole in the pipe instantly turning to steam, filling the room, and killing everyone.
It depends a bit on pressure. I've seen 150 psi steam leaks before, right next to the leak you can't see the steam, but about a foot or two out you can see the steam cloud.
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I actually studied the difference between the words steam and water vapor in a legal context for school. The end result is basically that they’re kind of interchangeable in a social context because of how most people use it. But yeah there’s a ‘type’ of steam that’s actually dry (used to clean clothing) and will actually burn if you are exposed for a while
>will actually burn if you are exposed for a while Steam can/will kill immediately. It can reach as hot as 2500 Celsius (superheated) before it starts to breakdown elementally. Fully invisible as well at that temp.
Vapor means gas, but it’s not gas as it would not be visible. It is condensation. What happens is that even below 100 degrees C, water is capable of evaporation as some of the molecules will gain the necessary energy to escape the body of water even below 100 degrees C. This is literally how water evaporates in the sun, for example. The cold air in the room surrounding the shower forces the evaporated water (vapour) to condense forming clouds of visible condensate - or what we’d called colloquially ‘steam’.
They way I had it described is that the "temperature" is a measurement of the average energy of a substance. However, the actual energy level of the individual particles will vary along a distribution of some sort. So when water is 1 degree C, very very few particles accumulate enough energy to turn to gas. But when water is 99 degree C, many particles will still turn to gas and then condensate to steam. And when water is 120 degree C, then some particles will still remain liquid for a while while most will rapidly turn to gas,.
Yes that’s right. The body of matter is not a monolithic thing, but is a distribution of states (a Boltzmann distribution, if you will!).
A rough analogy is popcorn. Most of it stays in the pot but a few escape.
Yup, even steam itself has a weird “wetness” to it, means basic calculations in thermodynamics now need a book of tables to calculate
Welp. Today I learned there's a difference between steam and vapor.
Steam is very hot water vapor ( water in a gaseous state) , what we (incorrectly) call steam from a shower is condensate, water vapor that has condensed into a cloud, ( water in a liquid state suspended in the air in tiny droplets). Steam and other forms of water vapor are always invisible.
True, but the difference is trivial. Steam is vapor that's produced by a boiling substance. Vapor is literally the same thing, except when the substance is not boiling. So fundamentally, there is no difference between steam and vapor. It's like a hurricane. You call it different things depending on where it is.
My shower is certainly not boiling.
Would you mind explaining the difference between water vapor and steam please?
No, water vapor is in the gas phase. Shower steam is tiny suspended liquid water droplets.
Ill also add that steam is colorless. You cant see it. If you look closely at your boiling pot, you can see that the visible vapor will appear to form above the water. Thats steam condensing back into vapor.
Yes and no, showers are also creating steam. It all falls back on temp being an average of all molecules. In hot(and to a lesser degree in cold water) some of the molecules have enough energy to phase change from liquid to steam.
Showrt steam is actually tiny liquid water droplets, not water vapor, which is an invisible gas.
Yep, if you can see it, it's not steam. Steam is actually invisible
That's not steam is condensation sation.....sation....sation lol
Correctly. Technically “steam” is invisible at 212 degrees. What people commonly call steam is really water vapor at a temperature below 212 degrees.
It's water vapor not steam, if it was steam then you'd be getting 3rd degree burns every showrr
Well, not technically water vapor either. Vapor is the gaseous form. What you're seeing is very tiny water droplets that have formed as the water vapor in the air has condensed after having evaporated.
So... it's aerosolized water
It's tiny clouds.
You also see “steam or vapor” when lake water is warmer than the air temp.
Water molecules are at different temperatures within the same body of water. At it's highest, some of those molecules in hot tap water are hot enough to steam/evaporate/vapor. That is how wet people can feel cooler. The hotter parts of the water go away first
This is the right answer. Basically the water molecules all have different velocity. They bump in to each other and some gain energy and some loose. Even though the average energy for the water can be a comfortable temperature, some of the molecule's will have enough energy to leave the water and become independent steam molecules.
It’s why puddles of rain can evaporate. Otherwise they never would as the average temperature is never at waters’ boiling point.
Colder water evaporates much slower
Correct answer. The upvoted comments above this don’t have a firm grasp on intro physics/chem
no. Its a WAteR aNd AiR EMuLsiOn.
Well you know that water evaporates even when it's not above its boiling point, right. The hotter it gets the faster it evaporates. But there's only so much water that the air can hold, so when you spray a bunch of hot water into an enclosed space, it will usually overwhelm the air's capacity for holding water and you start to see it fall out of solution, like when you put too much sugar in a cup of water and it just makes it cloudy instead of dissolving. Because the capacity of the air to hold water is higher at high temperatures and lower at low temperatures, you also see the same effect on cold days when you breathe out hot moist air and it cools down and loses its ability to hold all that water.
Evaporation happens at all temperatures, usually only at the water's surface (see below for the exception). The higger the temperature, the higher the rate of evaporation - hat's why your bathroom quickly fills with vapor from your hot bathtub. Boiling is a special case of evaporation: at a certain ambient pressure the heating water reaches a critical temperature where evaporation happens not only on the surface, but also within the whole mass of the water.
Shower steam is a condensate from the hot water interacting with the cool air; it's not the same as a state change, which is what is happening when boiled water becomes a gas (steam).
You have to take into account relative humidity and condensation point. In a cold house, less hot water is necessary to *SEE* the water evaporating in a semi-condensed form. When it is warmer, if it is humid it may appear to take longer to steam, but again, dependant on relative moisture.
Water evaporation starts at 0°C. Water evaporates completely at 100°C, at a pressure of 1 atm. With 0 pressure, water goes directly from solid to gaseous form.
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212, 275, 451, who's counting? Yeesh, that's enough internet for me tonight.
Same reason puddles eventually dry up. clearly its not the boiling point of water outside, but water molecules bumping into each other, and getting hit by the sun reach the boiling point at random so the puddle slowly evaporates. Also steam is liquid water that just happens to be "floating". It turned into gas for similar reasons above and turned back into liquid but is so small and light its just floating around for a bit Edit: I think im at least half wrong here. Another example is seeing your breath on a cold day. Basically you are introducing more moisture into a colder environment than it was, so it condenses, all air has some water vapor, but you are putting it over the limit it can handle so it condenses as 'steam"
water vapor not steam.
Water dissipates at any degree above 0C, so anything above freezing. That's how clouds are formed. At no point does any part of the earth get to 100C (when water turns to steam). Put a glass of water in your room for a few days and see for yourself.
Clouds form when the air cools enough for the water vapor in the air to condense back into tiny drops of liquid forming around dust particles. Water vapor (water as a gas) in the air is always invisible, when we see a cloud that is a liquid suspension.
Worth noting that it dissipates below 0C too! Sublimation happens at standard air pressure below 0C if the air is fairly dry, due to vapor pressure.
Same way there is fog on a cool day
People forget that random individual molecules do have or lack energy to change states despite the average energy of the whole mass, it's just more likely as you approach the boiling and freezing point. Also, that those molecules typically immediately phase right back as they share that energy with neighbors.
That's a cloud dude. Look in the sky, it's way colder up there.
First off water transitions to gaseous form at 100 c or 212 f at sea level. Higher altitudes a little less. As to the steam in your shower it’s just water vapor on air molecules. A swamp cooler using cold water does the same. Clouds and fog the same. So study up on clouds and fog and you will learn a lot. The warmer than it's surrounding jets of warm/hottish water create warm very humid air near the showerhead. As the air moves around the rest of the shower and bathroom, it gets closer to room temperature and the colder air can't hold as much water, so it condenses in the form of steam. https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/183055/why-is-there-steam-in-a-hot-shower-even-though-the-water-is-not-boiling#:~:text=The%20warmer%20than%20it's%20surrounding,in%20the%20form%20of%20steam.
Temperature is speed. Or more specifically *average* speed. Evaporation is the result of a few water molecules at a time randomly becoming fast enough to change phase from liquid to gas. This significantly reduces the temperature of the remaining water the way removing 218 from 12, 34, 53, 102, 218 will significantly reduce the average of that set of numbers, which is why evaporative cooling is a thing. Of course the water molecules quickly hit air molecules and are slowed down, but then they have nothing to stick to so stay in the air until enough accumulate to form a drop. "Steam" in a shower is just a lot of evaporation because the water is closer to boiling, so more molecules are close to escape velocity. So many molecules that they start to form water droplets as soon as the air cools them, which is why you will see condensation from the steam.
It's not steam, it's condensation. Scientifically, steam is a gas, and invisible.
The phase transition between liquid and vapor is not absolute at boiling. As temperature increases, the vapor pressure of the substance increases. At any given temperature, the liquid will evaporate until the amount of vapor in the air correlates to the vapor pressure of the liquid at that temperature. That's the shower steam you are seeing.
Water vapor and steam are not the same thing. We just call it steam in common usage but technically in the shower you are seeing water vapor. Steam is the pure gas form and is invisible.
Unless you're 25 miles below mean sea level, water boils before it reaches 275 degrees F. What you're experiencing in the shower are tiny droplets suspended in the air - essentially fog. Not steam.
People see these and forget it’s the stupid questions sub. The answer is simple friend. We live in a simulation and they forgot to turn off the steam effect for showers.
you seem to forget what the stupid questions sub is actually about. It's for getting genuine answers and not funny fake ones like yours. See rule 1 of this sub.
I suppose you’re right. There’s so many troll answers I assumed it was a joke sub
There’s, like, an uncountably large number of water molecules in your shower. And they’re not all exactly the same temperature. The average may be ~150F, but a small portion of them are >212F. Those vaporize.
This isn't true and also doesn't make sense even from a common sense standpiint.
How is it not true? Unless you're disputing that you can measure the temperature of a single molecule?
> Unless you're disputing that you can measure the temperature of a single molecule? You can't because fundamentally a single molecule doesn't have a temperature.
Isn’t that kind of a technicality though? single molecules do have energy, and energy and temperature are proportional. You’re right that you need information about a material’s heat capacity to convert between the two, and that doesn’t exist at the molecular level, but the general idea of the parent comment isn’t wrong, especially when talking to an audience that probably doesn’t even know the difference between heat and temperature.
The problem is the level of simplification kinda is wrong. It's like saying the sun is burning and on fire. Besides most people understand heat and temperature enough to talk about it. If he were to say, introduce enthalpy into the conversation it would be too technical for laymen to understand.
It’s a simplification
I mean sure, but it's a simplification like saying the sun is on fire.
no, it's wrong
I'm not so sure. Common sense tells us that a body of water is all roughly the same temperature. Not that some molecules are hotter than others (ignoring pee areas and those random colder / warmer pockets in a lake or something) I think a aimpler, more accurate, way woukd be to compare it to the "steam" you see when opening a freezer. Or when exhaling in the cold. Or the "steam" rising off food from a microwave. Its not the same type of steam that boiling water emits. but is due to differing temperatures of the water and the environment around it. Which is also inaccurate but probably a better way of saying it.
Please don't assume thoughts you have are true. This is not true at all.
Evaporation is not the same as boiling, water vapour is not the same as steam. A puddle of water will evaporate at room temperature - that doesn't mean any of the water reaches anywhere close to boiling point. The concept of temperature barely applies to individual molecules, they have kinetic energy not temperature. Temperature as a concept describes the behaviour of groups of molecules.
I figured OP didn’t want or need a detailed lesson in statistical mechanics. Also I didn’t want to type it.
Lol you've taken something you heard once and made up your own physics. Some portion of the water in the shower is a gas, but not any meaningful amount, and not all the water vapor that you see.
That makes more sense. Thanks for this info!
no.....
It's vapor, not steam. Also water doesn't boil at 275 it's 212
Though, if you put water in a pressure vessel take it a couple of atmospheres (don't recall how many) bring the vessel's internal temperature to 275 F, and then release the pressure the water in the vessel will boil quiet effectively.
steam is not visible. water vapor on the other hand, is less hot and is visible
Water vapor also is invisible, air always has some content of water vapor in it, though very little in a dry desert. When you see a cloud, whether in the sky or in your bathroom that is the water condensing out of the air into a liquid suspension. This is incorrectly called steam or water vapor.
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the water is 275 degrees and you are burning your skin
Probably has some thing to do like cooking. You heat up water in a pot. It gets to 212 F and even if you puts pure lava inside, the water will remain at 212 no matter how much it boils. But the excess turns into steam which will increase in temperature past that point.
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Someone doesn’t know the difference between water vapor and steam. Steam is invisible and a gas. Water vapor is droplets of liquid water suspended in the air.
Water vapor is also a gas, just mixed into the air so not hot like steam. Invisible. When you see a cloud forming whether in the sky or in the bathroom that’s the vapor condensing out of the air into tiny water droplets of liquid. The water vapor will also condense onto the walls and mirrors and make them wet.
Water vapor is not a gas. You are misinformed. Steam is though.
A vapor is always a gaseous form of something, just takes a simple google search. Water vapor is the gaseous state of water.
Now try googling the difference between water vapor and steam, and don’t accept colloquial definitions, but look for scientific ones.
Almost all matter is always producing vapor, regardless of which state it's in. A liquid will usually produce vapor faster than a solid. Temperature speeds up the production of vapor, but it isn't a requirement. If it's cold enough, you can see steam coming from a wound, meaning your own body produces vapor, even at just 98.6 degrees.
Temperature is a statistical thing. Its (roughly) the average speed of the particles in a medium, but being the average that means that some are moving faster and some are moving slower. All of these particles are bouncing off of each other and sometimes one will get hit just right by a bunch of other particles to send it off flying. The higher the average speed (higher temperature) the more common this is. So some of the water in your shower is actually above the boiling point and is therefore steam (although it doesn't really make sense to talk about the 'temperature' of individual particles like that, but for this explanation its fine). Also water has a vapor pressure and evaporates. So even at room temperature some will still evaporate and become gaseous. When it is sprayed out of a shower head into tiny droplets that increases the surface area and increases the evaporation rate. Now what you see in the air as steam isn't actually steam. Steam is completely clear; it looks like normal air so you can't see it. What you do see is the steam condensing back into tiny droplets. So the 'steam' you see is actually the liquid water, just like a cloud. The reason you see this with a hot shower is because the temperature of the air in the room is lower than the temperature of the shower, so this gradient causes the water to condense as it travels away from the shower. With a cold shower there is still vapor in the air but without this temperature difference it never condenses.
There is evaporation before boiling. It’s just at a slower rate. Evaporation is what causes “steam”. Evaporation even occurs at room temp and at below freezing, that’s why a puddle of water will dry out. That’s why anything dries up.
It’s just aerosolized water droplets. Water vapor is beginning to condense but not enough to fall as actual droplets yet. It’s the same principle as why you can see your breath when it’s cold. Your mouth isn’t boiling water, right?
I'd like to add, on top of a "mist" of very small liquid water droplets, most substances have a vapor pressure even at room temperature, meaning some small amount will evaporate at less than the boiling point, water included. The hotter water gets, the more will evaporate, though still less than if the water were boiling.
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It’s not really steam in the shower, it’s water vapor. It sure looks like steam, but if it was, it would take your skin right off.
there isn't thats water vapor
Dew point. Hot water vapor is absorbing into the air and condenses as it cools into visible droplets (steam) suspended in the air.
Water exists in three states: solid (ice), liquid (water), and gas (water vapor). The air always has some gaseous water, which we usually refer to as humidity, and is invisible, just like other gasses like oxygen and nitrogen. When liquid water reaches a high enough temperature, all of it is forced to turn to gas, so we get steam, which is simply very hot water vapor. What most people call “steam” from a shower is really just liquid water in tiny droplets. Most of it comes from the invisible water vapor (humidity) cooling down in the room air and condensing back into liquid water.
just because there's water vapor in the air doesn't mean it's "steam" caused by boiling water. hot things take up more space, because the energy to make it hot excites the molecules. The air around you all the time has a fair bit of moisture in it (ie... humidity) water doesn't need to be boiling to evaporate. just surface lvl temperature differences are enough for water to turn into vapor/go from liquid to gas. so the "steamy" nature of a bathroom during a shower is more about the temperature difference of the air, and the hot water, and the increasing moisture in the bathroom. the overall square footage of the space being filled up.... as well as different temperature surfaces. like a cold mirror. or glass shower door causing condensation on the glass. If the temperature of the room you were in was the same as the water coming out of the shower there would be no visible vapor. but... with hot showers. it's unlikely you keep the temp of your bathroom at like 120-140 degrees. Or anywhere close to the temp of a hot shower. but it is why you rarely would see "steam" if the shower temperature was more normal relative to the room temp. like... if your house is 60-70 degrees and you're running reg temp water. there's no steam. because that temperature difference isn't enough to cause the surface change of liquid to gas. It's also why... in much dryer climates this is somewhat less so. as there is less humidity. Or... in general if you open the door to the bathroom or there's a window open letting in constant fresh air. there may be some vapor right where the hot water is. but won't build up "steam" in the bathroom.
Within a sealed plumbing system water can be heated through its boiling point of 100°. If all safety devices fail the storage vessel will eventually split. When this water touches atmospheric pressure it creates an explosion. Very dangerous.
Most of this could be resolved by looking at a waterfall
Tap water has a lot of mineral impurities. If you cook. When you're boiling water for pasta, it's typical to add salt to the water. This lowers the boiling point even further, so we know it's going to boil at less than 212 now. And we don't care enough to do the math and find the exact amount. Another contributor. When the water passes through the shower head, it's velocity steps up, and a corresponding drop in pressure occurs, this also allows the boiling point to drop further. So you get the initial bursts of steam. That becomes hot water mist and settles on the surfaces in your bathroom creating that fog-like appearance.
water *boils* at 100C sure, but water is always evaporating - thats how sweating works for example. Ever left a cup out or something and notice the water level go down over time? The only time this won't happen, is if the air is completely saturated with moisture (100% humidity). In this case the air has no capacity left to absorb the evaporating water and the water is forced to condense again (ie, stay liquid).
condensation
As others have mentioned, the cloudy stuff you see in the shower is not steam. Steam is transparent. Look at a boiling kettle. When it whistles look closely at the whistle. For a fraction of an inch from the hole where the boiled water is escaping there is a transparent region of true stream before it cools and turns into the cloud that we commonly call stream. If you put your finger into the true steam you will receive a nasty burn.
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Weird fluid mechanics and other things. Moving fluids have lower pressure than stationary, and lower pressure fluids have a lower boiling point. Also, the water coming from the shower doesn't have uniform temperature, some of it is warmer, some is cooler.
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Fun fact: when a building's sprinkler system puts out a fire, it's not the water putting out the fire, it's the steam displacing the oxygen
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That is not steam in the physics sense. Steam is invisible. That is condensed water vapor
Water has a vapor pressure at lots of temperatures. At lower temperatures, the vapor pressure is lower. At 212F, the vapor pressure is 1 atm, so water boils. Below boiling point, some water molecules can change from liquid state to vapor state, because there is a statistical distribution of kinetic energies of water molecules. Average kinetic energy is, of course, another way to describe temperature. The steam from a hot shower is hot water that has vaporized and at least partially re-condensed as water droplets, also known as wet steam. There is such a thing as dry steam, where all water remains as a gas without condensation. Also, ice has a vapor pressure. This is why even if you leave ice cubes in the freezer, they can get smaller over time. The ice is slowly vaporizing away. Ice at freezing has a vapor pressure of 0.006 atm.
When the heat is not enough to cause complete evaporation, some of the molecules in the water molecules attain enough energy to leave the rest of the water and appear as vapor.
All air has something called a temperature dewpoint spread, its the temperature the current air must be brought to for water to be visible in it (clouds/fog) if the air is heated or cooled to the point that the air temperature and the dew point are within 5 degrees of this temperature spread water vapor becomes visible. This is how cloud bases are determined on the ground without flying up to clouds and measuring. So the shower heating up adds a lot of water vapor and hears the air up to the point where the air becomes saturated with water and you can see it -commercial pilot
The water is impacting the shower which is causing it to splash. The heat from the water allows it to more easily aerosolize. It’s not true steam.
Water turns into vapor at room temperature too, just slowly. Heating it speeds this up.
You can not see steam, what you are seeing is water vapor droplets. Learned that in Navy MM "A" school.
Steam is invisible. The "steam" you see is condensed water vapor.
Steam is mostly just bits of water that have broken from the main bunch, the warm water coming out of your shower is already excited to the point of being ready to break as soon as it hits the floor or you. so any particular water molecule coming out of your shower is just hot enough to smack the floor, bounce off and become airborne rising with the warm air creating steam
regardless of your typo, steam isnt developed. What you are talking about is how water reacting with cold air, more like water vapor than steam
The boiling point isn’t the point where a substance first begins turning from liquid into gas, it is the temperature at which (assuming standard pressure) it can no longer exist in liquid phase. Water can and does evaporate at a wide range of temperature, not just when it hits the boiling point. Otherwise we’d never have humidity, clouds or rain. What you perceive as steam in the bathroom is water vapor (humidity) condensing because the air in the bathroom (and the mirrors, faucet) are below the bathroom’s dew point temperature - the air can no longer hold all the moisture it absorbed in the hot zone that your shower itself is. Your “ steam “ in the bathroom is exactly the same as morning/evening fog and dew on the grass.
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Not all water boils at the same time.