The Great Titanic Physics Question


This was actually taken from an assignment for Physics 140 - Assignment 4: Mechanics and Heat conducted at the University of Western Australia, not the University of New South Wales, Australia as first reported. My apologies to all and a big thank you to Aileen for spotting the mistake.

Jack and Rose are stranded in the middle of the North Atlantic Ocean after their ship has just sunk. Rose is able to climb aboard a piece of flotsam while Jack unfortunately has to remain immersed in the 0 degrees Celsius ocean water. Jack has a body mass of approximately 65 kg with a body area of 1.5 m2. He has a 1 cm layer of fat around his body with the inner part of his body having a specific heat of approximately 4000 J/kgK. If Jack falls unconscious when his inner body temperature drops by 5 degrees Celsius, estimate how much quality time Jack and Rose have together after being dumped into the water. Assume that heat can be rapidly transported around the inner part of Jack's body via blood flow i.e. forced convection. (Thermal conductivity of fat is 0.17 W/mK.)

Quality time remaining is _______________________________


For all you physics nuts out there, the answer is 26 minutes, but if you think it's not, mail me and I'll see what I can do about it.

Thanks again Aileen for the question and the answer :)

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Copyright 1998 Joey
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