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Wet or dry towel, which is better


CasualKilla

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I was just burnt myself after making some food in the oven. The towel (fabric) insulated my hands for a short time, but the heat shot up rapidly after before I could react.

 

My question is, would I have been better off wetting the towel first? Intuition tells me the wet towel will heat up more gradually (better thermal capacitance?) giving me more time to react, but the wet towel should be worse at steady state, since I think water has a better thermal conductivity than the dry fabric. Normal usage is probably shorter than the time taken to reach stead state, so i assume this is not a factor.

 

Thoughts?

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ouch. :-( Hope it's ok. I think you are better off with a thicker towel folded several times... Cloth isn't that refractory, so it's more to do with the thickness of it to block the heat. I wouldn't trust a wet towel as it could slip easier.

 

 

PS:

Thinking about it.... just buy some oven gloves, lol. They are more refractory than a towel. ;-)

Edited by DrP
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A wet (or damp) towel is a really bad idea.

The water boils when it hits the hot pan and you get scalded by the steam.

I'm going to disagree with you. Food contains water, therefore, the pan will be no hotter than 100oC. I can't imagine scalding steam coming off an object that is that temperature in the scenario mentioned. Try a wet cloth against a boiling metal kettle, I bet you don't get scalded by steam; not enough energy transferred quickly enough.

Edited by StringJunky
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I'm going to disagree with you. Food contains water, therefore, the pan will be no hotter than 100oC. I can't imagine scalding steam coming off an object that is that temperature in the scenario mentioned. Try a wet cloth against a boiling metal kettle, I bet you don't get scalded by steam; not enough energy transferred quickly enough.

You are welcome to disagree with me, but you might want to think it through a bit.

Your comment about a kettle is correct,but irrelevant.

Put a metal roasting pan in an oven at 250C for a while and you will see that it gets hotter than 100C.

This is true, even if there's a joint of meat in it.

 

If your story were true then the splashes of food that get "baked" onto the sides of the pan would be a lot easier to wash off.

.

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You are welcome to disagree with me, but you might want to think it through a bit.

Your comment about a kettle is correct,but irrelevant.

Put a metal roasting pan in an oven at 250C for a while and you will see that it gets hotter than 100C.

This is true, even if there's a joint of meat in it.

 

If your story were true then the splashes of food that get "baked" onto the sides of the pan would be a lot easier to wash off.

.

OK, I suppose the extremities of a roasting pan with oil in it will be a fair bit hotter. than a 100.

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OK, I suppose the extremities of a roasting pan with oil in it will be a fair bit hotter. than a 100.

OK, glad that's sorted.

Now consider heating some water in a pan to boil it.

At the point where the water is boiling, heat must be transferred from the pan to the water and the water is at 100C.

How hot must the pan be?

(Hint, it's not consistent with the assertion you made earlier that it can't be more than 100C).

 

Next question.

Does steam have to be at 100C to scald?

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Personal experience tell me that the water in a damp towel conducts the heat far better than a dry towel. My advice is to use a dry towel and try to be a quick as possible handling hot objects.

Edited by ajb
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OK, glad that's sorted.

Now consider heating some water in a pan to boil it.

At the point where the water is boiling, heat must be transferred from the pan to the water and the water is at 100C.

How hot must the pan be?

(Hint, it's not consistent with the assertion you made earlier that it can't be more than 100C).

 

Next question.

Does steam have to be at 100C to scald?

I think skin starts cooking at 60 to 70C. Think you may have phrased your question since water needs to be 100C (or higher) to be steam

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