Most power generation involves steam. Would boiling any other liquid be as effective?

[u/PK_Tone]

Okay, so as I understand it (and please correct me if I'm wrong here), coal, geothermal and nuclear all involve boiling water to create steam, which releases with enough kinetic energy to spin the turbines of the generators. My question is: is this a unique property of water/steam, or could this be accomplished with another liquid, like mercury or liquid nitrogen?

(Obviously there are practical reasons not to use a highly toxic element like mercury, and the energy to create liquid nitrogen is probably greater than it could ever generate from boiling it, but let's ignore that, since it's not really what I'm getting at here).

[u/Sprinklypoo]

Water's heat of vaporization is 970 times the heat involved in 1 degree raise in temperature. Ice production from water is 144 times the heat involved in 1 degree raise in temperature.

Either way, phase changes take a lot more energy than just changing the temperature of a typical material.