Question

Page < > of 2 1) When shopping for cooking pots, pots whose bottoms have high thermal conduetivity (e.g. copper) command a higher price, since they will conduct heat the fastest. However the pots with the thickest bottoms also usually command a higher price. That may be counter-intuitive, since a thicker pot bottom means more resistance to heat transfer from the stove flame to the food inside the pot. How significant is this resistance? Show this quantitatively for a 10" wide pot with a copper bottom that's 100 mils thick, boiling water over a 1500 °C flame. Speculate on why people are willing to simultaneously pay more for a high k value (which speeds up heat transfer into the pot) and pay more for a thicker bottom (which slows down heat transfer into the pot). NOTE: If you've never boiled a pot of water before, you should try it. Or talk to someone who has. Or at least contemplate the origins of the adage "a watched pot never boils.

Answer 1