Why is it that if we wet our fingers before putting out a candle, we don’t get burned, but if we grab a hot pan out of the oven with a wet oven mitt, we get burned?

Question

Why is it that if we wet our fingers before putting out a candle, we don’t get burned, but if we grab a hot pan out of the oven with a wet oven mitt, we get burned?

In: Physics

Answer 1

Warmth and temperature are not the same thing.

A candle might be a few hundred degrees, but it doesn’t radiate (much) thermal energy. The wet on your hand will be enough to quell that intense – but small- energy source.

But the hot pan, despite having a lower temperature, is larger, and had more thermal energy in its metal/Pyrex structure. That abundance of heat is enough to shluck through a wet mitt through conduction. The heat from the over pan cannot be quelled by a soggy mitt, so instead that thermal energy agitates the water, making it hot, and soon enough the heat conducts through.