The author and his then 6-year-old son have conducted the following experiment to determin...

The author and his then 6-year-old son have conducted the following experiment to determine the thermal conductivity of a hot dog. They first boiled water in a large pan and measured the temperature of the boiling water to be 94°C, which is not surprising, since they live at an elevation of about 1650 m in Reno, Nevada. They then took a hot dog that is 12.5 cm long and 2.2 cm in diameter and inserted a thermocouple into the midpoint of the hot dog and another thermocouple just under the skin. They waited until both thermocouples read 20°C, which is the ambient temperature. They then dropped the hot dog into boiling water and observed the changes in both temperatures. Exactly 2 min after the hot dog was dropped into the boiling water, they recorded the center and the surface temperatures to be 59°C and 88°C, respectively. The density of the hot dog can be taken to be 980 kg/m3, which is slightly less than the density of water, since the hot dog was observed to be floating in water while being almost completely immersed. The specific heat of a hot dog can be taken to be 3900 J/kg · °C, which is slightly less than that of water, since a hot dog is mostly water. Using transient temperature charts, determine (a) the thermal diffusivity of the hot dog; (b) the thermal conductivity of the hot dog; and (c) the convection heat transfer coefficient.

FIGURE P18-50