Question

Suppose you are sitting, naked, on a steel bench with a temperature of 10°C. The only thing insulating the core of your body (temperature 37°C) is a layer of skin (the epidermis and dermis together are about 4 mm thick) and fat (varies from individual to individual, but a typical thickness on the buttocks and the back of the thighs might be 1.0 cm.) Estimate the rate of heat loss by conduction under this circumstance.

I estimated the area of skin to be 1m^2 and I disregarded insulation from the skin. I used 0.21 W/mK as the thermal conductivity (k) of fat. I keep getting 567 W, but the answer on my instructor's powerpoint says 56.7 W. I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong (or if she has somehow made an error). Any help is much appreciated! :)

Answer 1

I tkink she did some mistakes