Wood conducts heat very poorly-it has a very low conductivity. Does wood still have a low conductivity...?

Question

if it is hot? Could you safely and quickly grasp the wooden handle of a pan from a hot oven with your bare hand?Although the pan handle is hot, is much heat conducted from it to your hand if grasped briefly? Why would it be a poor idea to do the same with an iron handle? Explain.

Answer 1

It really depends on how dense the wood is and how direct the heat is applied to the wood. Wood will coduct some heat even dry but not much. However it will burn... so if you heated the wood to the point of nearly burning with a lot of heat, it would possibly burn your hand. It has to be constant and can happen rarely thats why pan handles are rarely made of wood. If placed in a hot oven for long enough you will get burned just the same but it will take a lot more time

Iron conducts heat very well though mostly because it holds heat. This is possible because of a latticelike network of molecules. Metallurgy is fascinating and you should study and read up on it