I think that in the 2-3 seconds that it takes for the handle to warm noticably, some of the water is turning into steam as it makes contact with the very hot surface of the pan. This in turn saturates the surrounding air, warming it and causing locally high humidity, resulting in a decrese in aerial condensation of steam. This will cause a reasonable amount of steam to travel in all directions as it expands (or diffuses?). Any steam that comes into contact with the cool metal handle will quickly condense into water, thus releasing heat.
This explanation doesn't seem all that exotic. Granted, I have no idea how much heat is released when a steam molecule condenses into water. But when I'm filling my lighter up, the liquid gas that escpaes into the air and evaporates causes a significant cooling to the point it freezes the bottom of the lighter and cools the fingers where it holds the lighter to the point it almost hurts. I can see condensation having the opposite effect to this.
Originally Posted by wufwugy
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