莱顿弗罗斯特现象，又译作李登弗斯特作用、赖登福现象，在1732年为赫尔曼·布尔哈夫（Herman Boerhaave）首次发现，其后在1756年，德国医生约翰·戈特洛布·莱顿弗罗斯特（Johann Gottlob Leidenfrost）作出更深入的研究，并书于《论普通水的性质》（A Tract About Some Qualities of Common Water）一文之中。当液体接触一块远超其沸点的对象时，液体表面会产生出一层有隔热作用的蒸气，令液体沸腾的速度大大减慢。

The Leidenfrost effect is a physical phenomenon in which a liquid, in near contact with a mass significantly hotter than the liquid's boiling point, produces an insulating vapor layer keeping that liquid from boiling rapidly. Due to this ‘repulsive force,’ the droplet hovers over the surface rather than making physical contact with it. This is most commonly seen when cooking: one sprinkles drops of water in a pan to gauge its temperature: if the pan's temperature is at or above the Leidenfrost point, the water skitters across the pan and takes longer to evaporate than in a pan below the temperature of the Leidenfrost point (but still above boiling temperature). The effect is also responsible for the ability of liquid nitrogen to skitter across floors. It has also been used in some potentially dangerous demonstrations, such as dipping a wet finger in molten lead or blowing out a mouthful of liquid nitrogen, both enacted without injury to the demonstrator. The latter is potentially lethal, particularly should one accidentally swallow the liquid nitrogen.