A hiker is wearing wool clothing of 0.50-cm thickness to keep warm. Her skin temperature is 35degrees Celsius and the outside temperature is 4.0degrees Celsius. Her body surface area is 1.2 m2. If the thermal conductivity of wool is 0.040 W/(m · K), what is the rate of heat conduction through her clothing?
1. 270 W
2. 300 W
3. 450 W
4. 500 W
5. 400 W
I started with using the rate of heat conduction = k A ΔT /x where x is the thickness of the clothing, but it wasn't giving me the correct answer. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
1. 270 W
2. 300 W
3. 450 W
4. 500 W
5. 400 W
I started with using the rate of heat conduction = k A ΔT /x where x is the thickness of the clothing, but it wasn't giving me the correct answer. Any help would be appreciated! Thanks!
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Your equation is right! Make sure that you converted all of your units correctly, all lengths need to be in meters and temperatures in Kelvin. Also, when you calculate the change in temperature use the skin temperature (in Kelvin) - the outside temperature. If you do all of this correctly then the units on your answer should only be Watts and you should get 300. Good luck on the exam tomorrow! :)