Maximizing Energy Usage: Swimming vs. Fast Food Meal

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves calculating the duration a 68 kg person must swim at a fast crawl to expend the energy from a typical fast food meal, considering the efficiency of energy usage.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the relationship between energy intake from food and energy expenditure during swimming, questioning how to set up the equation correctly. There is an exploration of the efficiency of energy usage and the conversion of units.

Discussion Status

Some participants have offered insights into the energy conversion process and the relationship between energy intake and expenditure. There is an ongoing exploration of unit conversions and the implications of efficiency on the calculations.

Contextual Notes

Participants are working with specific values for energy intake and metabolic power, while also addressing the need for unit consistency in their calculations. The discussion reflects a mix of assumptions about energy efficiency and the setup of the problem.

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Homework Statement



For how long would a 68 kg person have to swim at a fast crawl to use all the energy available in a typical fast food meal of burger, fries, and a drink? Assume 25% efficiency.

Homework Equations



Fast food meal provides 1350 Cal or 5670 kJ
A 68 kg person swimming at a fast crawl uses 800 W of metabolic power.

The Attempt at a Solution



I'm having trouble just setting up the equation.
I know that Change in Thermal Energy + Change in Chemical Energy = 0 because it is an isolated system, but I don't know where to go from here, nor do I know what units I need each part to be in.
 
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Well, just think about this question for a second. This person intakes a certain amount of energy by eating the food. 25% of that energy is useable. The person then performs some activity that takes a certain amount of energy per second (or 800 J per second). You should be able to determine how long the person can swim just by giving the question some thought.
 
So would it be 5670*.25=800W* time?

Solving for time gives me 1.77 - but what units is this?
 
Op never mind, I needed to change kJ into Joules, then it gives me time in seconds. Whoops. :D
 

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