Newton's Law of Cooling with no Ambient Temperature

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SUMMARY

The discussion focuses on solving a four-part ordinary differential equation problem related to Newton's Law of Cooling without an ambient temperature. The initial body temperature is recorded at 76.04058181°F, decreasing to 73.42926519°F and then to 71.06644821°F over 20 minutes. The differential equation established is dT/dt = k(T - Ta), where Ta is the ambient temperature. The constant A was determined to be 48.6°F, suggesting that the ambient temperature is also 48.6°F, which simplifies the calculation of the time of death based on the normal body temperature of 98.6°F.

PREREQUISITES
  • Understanding of ordinary differential equations
  • Familiarity with Newton's Law of Cooling
  • Basic knowledge of temperature measurement and conversion
  • Ability to solve for constants in differential equations
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  • Study the derivation of Newton's Law of Cooling in detail
  • Learn how to solve ordinary differential equations using initial conditions
  • Explore methods for determining time of death using temperature data
  • Investigate the implications of ambient temperature in cooling problems
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Students in forensic science, mathematicians specializing in differential equations, and professionals in fields requiring temperature analysis, such as forensic investigators and physicists.

TobyKenz1
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This is a 4 part ordinary differential equation problem.

a.) You are a member of a CSI team that has discovered a dead body in a field. Upon discovery of the body you measure its temperature and find that it is 76.04058181\circF. 10 minutes later the temperature of the body is 73.42926519\circF. 10 minutes after that the temperature of the body is 71.06644821\circF. SET UP BUT DO NOT SOLVE the differential equation(s) and condition(s) to determine the temperature, T(t), of the body at any time t.

b.) The solution of your differential equation is T(t)=A+50e^{-0.6}e^{-0.01t, where A is a constant. Find A.

c.) What is the outside temperature in the field?

d.)When did the individual expire (normal body temperature is 98.6\circF)?

For the first part, I determined all the conditions that were give, and I wrote the equation

dT/dt=k(T-Ta)

where Ta is the ambient temperature. For the second part, I got A=27.441 by using the original temperature, 76.04058181 at time equals 0.

I just don't know how to go about the third and fourth parts. Any help would be very much appreciated.
 
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Correction: I got A=48.6, using the original temperature at time 0.
 
Correction2: Would it hold to reason for c that since the limit of the temperature function is 48.6 as t approaches infinity that 48.6 must be the ambient temperature? Because I think I was massively overthinking this problem.

This would also make part D much easier...
 

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