Question

Using an example, explain how being able to understand scientific principles and think scientifically can help you solve problems and answer questions in your everyday life.

Answer 1

Let me give an example of a problem that is often encountered in the manufacturing industries. When they want to change the temperature of a product, they use heat transfer using shell or tube heat exchangers. The scientific principle behind this is heat transfer through convection. The equation would be

Q = hAΔT,
where
Q is the rate of heat transfer
h is the heat transfer coefficient determined empirically
A is the area of heat transfer
ΔT is the temperature difference

By knowing the final temperature, engineers could manipulate the amount of material used to determine the rate of heat transfer needed.