Suppose an adult is encased in a thermally insulating barrier so that all the heat evolved by metabolism of foodstuffs is retain
ed by the body. what is her temperature increase after 2.5 hours? assume the heat capacity of the body is 4.18 j g–1k–1 and that the heat produced by metabolism is 9.4 kj kg–1hr–1.
Given: Q = 9.4 kJ/(kg-h), the heat production rate c = 4.18 J/(g-K), the heat capacity t = 2.5 h, amount of time
Note that c = 4.18 J/(g-K) = 4180 J/(kg-K) = 4.18 kJ/kg-K)
Consider 1 kg of mass. Then Qt = cΔT where ΔT is the increase in temperature (°K) (1 kg)*(9.4 kJ/(kg-h))*(2.5 h) = (1 kg)*(4.18 kJ/(kg-K))*(ΔT K) 23.5 = 4.18 ΔT ΔT = 23.5/4.18 = 5.622 K = 5.622 °C
Well a question to ask would be if the mass of the material has changed significantly as that would determine that the substance is radioactive or if there have been any high readings found by a Geiger meter in certain period of time
