Newton's Law of Cooling constant k

1. Jul 19, 2004

maccaman

In Newton's Law of Cooling, we have the constant k, i was just wondering (most people will prolly laugh at me) what the constant k represents, and what units this constant would have.

Also, can the law describe a cold object being heated up in a warmer environment.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

2. Jul 19, 2004

Clausius2

You should typewrite your equation us to be sure. I guess you want to say:

q=h*(T-Ts) (Newton Law of cooling);

where h (k yours) is the convective coefficient in W/(m^2)K

Well, I wish you will never need to calculate h theoretically. It is used when it exists a heat transferring due to fluids movement or fluid to solid boundary movement. It could be calculated in two ways:

i) solving Navier Stokes equation for the fluid motion. (it would be dangerous for your health).

ii) using heavies correlations involving the Fluid Mechanics Numbers (Reynolds, Prandtl, Nusselt, etc).

3. Jul 19, 2004

Didd

Last edited: Jul 19, 2004
4. Jul 19, 2004

maccaman

dy/dx = k(y - C)

Last edited: Jul 19, 2004