Consider a pan of water being heated (a) by placing it on an electric range and (b) by placing a heating element in the water. W
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Answer:
15.24°C
Explanation:
The quality of any heat pump pumping heat from cold to hot place is determined by its coefficient of performance (COP) defined as
Where Q_{in} is heat delivered into the hot place, in this case, the house, and W is the work used to pump heat
You can think of this quantity as similar to heat engine's efficiency
In our case, the COP of our heater is
Where T_{house} = 24°C and T_{out} is temperature outside
To achieve maximum heating, we will have to use the most efficient heat pump, and, according to the second law of thermodynamics, nothing is more efficient that Carnot Heat Pump
Which has COP of:
So we equate the COP of our heater with COP of Carnot heater
Rearrange the equation
Solve this simple quadratic equation, and you should get that the lowest outdoor temperature that could still allow heat to be pumped into your house would be
15.24°C