How many Btu’s must be removed from one pound of water at 200°F for it to end up as ice at 30°F

How many Btu’s must be removed from one pound of water at 200°F for it to end up as ice at 30°F?

a. 144 Btu

b. 828 Btu

c. 313 Btu

d. 526 Btu

The Correct Answer and Explanation is:

Correct Answer: c. 313 Btu

To determine how many Btu’s must be removed from one pound of water at 200°F for it to become ice at 30°F, we need to account for the following steps:

  1. Cooling the water from 200°F to 32°F (its freezing point): This step involves reducing the temperature of the water without changing its phase.
  2. Freezing the water at 32°F: This step involves the phase change from liquid water to ice, which releases latent heat.
  3. Cooling the ice from 32°F to 30°F: Finally, we cool the ice down by 2°F.

Step 1: Cooling water from 200°F to 32°F

The specific heat of liquid water is 1 Btu per pound per °F. To find the heat required to cool the water, we use the formula:

[
Q = mc\Delta T
]

where:

  • ( Q ) is the heat removed in Btu,
  • ( m ) is the mass in pounds (1 lb),
  • ( c ) is the specific heat (1 Btu/lb°F for liquid water),
  • ( \Delta T ) is the change in temperature (200°F – 32°F = 168°F).

[
Q = 1 \times 1 \times 168 = 168 \text{ Btu}
]

Step 2: Freezing the water at 32°F

The latent heat of fusion for water is approximately 144 Btu per pound. This is the amount of heat that must be removed for water to freeze.

[
Q = 144 \text{ Btu}
]

Step 3: Cooling the ice from 32°F to 30°F

The specific heat of ice is 0.5 Btu per pound per °F. The temperature change here is 2°F (32°F – 30°F). The heat removed is:

[
Q = 1 \times 0.5 \times 2 = 1 \text{ Btu}
]

Total Heat Removed

Now, we sum the heat removed in each step:
[
Q_{\text{total}} = 168 \text{ Btu (cooling water)} + 144 \text{ Btu (freezing)} + 1 \text{ Btu (cooling ice)} = 313 \text{ Btu}
]

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