What dripped from my saucepan?

Question

I was steaming something and the water in my saucepan boiled away and so for a while it was just heat and an empty saucepan, when I realized what happened I took the pan over to the sink on the way over to the sink this liquid molten silver stuff dripped out from the pan and incenerated my floor where it dripped. It looks like it came from where the pan was saudered (sp) but I also have my burners wrapped in aluminum foil. If you cant tell I really cannot cook. What do you think dripped from the pan?

Answer 1

I never actually heard of it happening but tin could melt at those temperatures.

Answer 2

Yep. It's probably molten solder from where the handle joins the pan. The handle will likely fall off if you put any weight in it, because the solder was keeping the pan together; it could also have been molten aluminium if the pan was made out of that. Either way, you may have ruined the pan, and I would be very careful how you handle it even if there isn't a hole in it.