steam latent heat

Rick T

Why does the latent heat of vaporization of steam go down as the pressure increases? You would think it would take more energy to jump off the surface under more pressure.

DanHolohan

because

the boiling point of the water (sensible heat) goes up. If you add the two numbers together you'll see that there's really not that much more total BTU in higher-pressure steam than there is in lower-pressure steam. The temperature goes up significantly (for the purposes for which we use it - cooking, process, etc.) but the BTU content isn't that significant.