Question

Consider a sphere and a cylinder of equal volume made of copper. Both the sphere and the cylinder are initially at the same temperature and are exposed to convection in the same environment. Which do you think will cool faster

Answer 1

Answer: The cylinder

Explanation:

Among all other solid shapes, the sphere has the smallest area for a given volume.

By experiment, the ratio of the radius of a sphere to a cylinder of equal volume is less than 1.

Recall;

That the Rate of transfer of convective heat (Q) = h × A ×change in temperature.

Where ,

h= the co efficient of convective heat transfer

A= the cross sectional area.

As such, since the sphere has a smaller surface area relative to the cylinder, the sphere transfers heat slower than the cylinder.

Therefore, if the sphere and cylinder are exposed to convection in the same environment, then, the cylinder cools faster.

PS; the more the Area, the higher the rate of heat transfer and vice versa.