**Ask a monkey a physics question thread**

[OngBonga]

And yes mojo, I realise that an expanding gas does not mean the molecules are actually getting bigger, that was sloppy language on my part. An expanding gas as I understand it is one in which the molecules have an increasing average distance between each molecule, or something like that anyway.

[MadMojoMonkey]

The conclusion that condensation adds temperature in the time-opposite way that evaporation removes temperature deserves some respect, actually.

And yes mojo, I realise that an expanding gas does not mean the molecules are actually getting bigger, that was sloppy language on my part. An expanding gas as I understand it is one in which the molecules have an increasing average distance between each molecule, or something like that anyway.

OK, now you've earned it.



Unfortunately... the more I think about this idea, the less I like it. The steam is passing through room temperature air on its path from the pan to the handle. It's going to lose a lot of temperature on that journey due to turbulent flows and mixing of steam with the air in the room, even over short distances.

Spraying the metal handle with a jet of steam would definitely rapidly increase the temperature to 100 C. Perhaps a bit more, depending on the pressure in the steam line.

***
I'm curious over the reproducibility of this phenomenon, Renton.

The thermodynamics is clear on the spontaneous flow of heat from hot to cold, such that the system tends toward equilibrium. It's buried in the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics... with a good bit to say about entropy increasing during this process.

This makes it terribly unlikely that the heat is flowing from cold to hot. It has to be "pumped" to do so. This is where the term "heat pump" comes from, which is ubiquitous in thermodynamics.

If the experiment I suggested proves wrong, consider if this explanation fits your observations:
The cool handle was being heated by the hot pan while you were grabbing and transporting the pan to the sink. The heat flow was already initiated by the disparity in temps. When you added the water, the previous flow took a moment to respond, during which time, the handle noticeably increased in temperature by a few degrees.

The water did not initiate the flow of temperature to the handle, but was coincidentally timed with said temp. increase.