Question

At 2 PM, a thermometer reading 80°F is taken outside where the air temperature is 20°F. At 2:03 PM, the temperature reading yielded by the thermometer is 42°F. Later, the thermometer is brought inside where the air is at 80°F. At 2:10 PM, the reading is 71°F. When was the thermometer brought indoors?

Answer 1

Use Law of Cooling:
$T(t) = (T_0 - T_A)e^{-kt} +T_A$
T0 = initial temperature, TA = ambient or final temperature

First solve for k using given info, T(3) = 42
$42 = (80-20)e^{-3k} +20 \\ \\ e^{-3k} = \frac{22}{60}=\frac{11}{30} \\ \\ k = -\frac{1}{3} ln (\frac{11}{30})$

Substituting k back into cooling equation gives:
$T(t) = 60(\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} + 20$

At some time "t", it is brought back inside at temperature "x".
We know that temperature goes back up to 71 at 2:10 so the time it is inside is 10-t, where t is time that it had been outside.
The new cooling equation for when its back inside is:
$T(t) = (x-80)(\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} + 80 \\ \\ 71 = (x-80)(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{10-t}{3}} + 80$
Solve for x:
$x = -9(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{t-10}{3}} + 80$
Sub back into original cooling equation, x = T(t)
$-9(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{t-10}{3}} + 80 = 60 (\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} +20$
Solve for t:
$60 (\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} +9(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{-10}{3}}(\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} = 60 \\ \\ (\frac{11}{30})^{t/3} = \frac{60}{60+9(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{-10}{3}}} \\ \\ \\ t = 3(\frac{ln(\frac{60}{60+9(\frac{11}{30})^{\frac{-10}{3}}})}{ln (\frac{11}{30})}) \\ \\ \\ t = 4.959$

This means the exact time it was brought indoors was about 2.5 seconds before 2:05 PM