> > About 120 Watts. ((2,500 Calories/day) * (4186 > Joules/Calorie) / (86,400 > sec/day) = 121.1 Joules/sec, a calculation I perform on the > board every > time we start talking about energy in various forms, since to > most people > today, a "Calorie" is simply a measure of how much fatter you > get by eating > something rather than the amount of heat necessary to raise > the temperature > of one kilogram of water 1�C.)
Hold on. I remember from Physics 101 that a food calorie is different than a "Calorie" or CAL that we measured with a home made calorimeter(heat bomb?). Is not a food calorie really a Kilocalorie - or is it the other way around? Nerd From Hell > > With 30-odd students all in the same room (I haven't measured > it, but I > doubt that the area of the classroom is > 900 ft�) along with > one very-odd > instructor who is spouting hot air, it does indeed get stuffy > unless we can > have the door open. However . . . > > > > > > It would be intolerably miserable at best on the coldest > winter day. > > > > . . . 1 human/900 ft� means one human in a fair-sized room. > None of the > rooms in my house come anywhere close to 900 ft�. In fact, I > think that > would be close to half the living area of the whole house, > and for many > years this house housed three humans and still needed to be > heated during > even an Alabama winter. My grandparents' house was even > smaller, and still > had to be heated even when the entire family gathered in one > room to open > Christmas presents. > > (Now, on a summer day with both the computer and the TV/VCR > running, it > does get a tad warm here in the immediate vicinity . . . ) > > > > >Homework problem: look up the power per square meter of > sunlight on the > >earth's surface, and compare to the power produced by 1 > human per 900 sq > >ft. Comment on the absurdity of the above statement. > > > > The first figure is called the "solar constant" (actually, > this is measured > above the atmosphere): 1.37 kW/m�. > > 1 m = 3.28 feet, so 1 m� = 10.76 ft�, so 900 ft� = 83.6 m�, > thus the power > of the sunlight falling on 900 ft� of Earth is (1.37 kW/m�) > * (83.6 m�) = > 114.6 kW, or nearly 1,000 times the power in the form of heat > given off by > a person. > > > > > -- Ronn! :) > > Ronn Blankenship > Instructor of Astronomy/Planetary Science > University of Montevallo > Montevallo, AL > > Disclaimer: Unless specifically stated otherwise, any > opinions contained > herein are the personal opinions of the author and do not > represent the > official position of the University of Montevallo. > >
