Thread: Newtons law of cooling problem

I need help setting up the following problem.

A freshly brewed cup of coffee has temperature 95 degrees C in a 20 degree C room. When its temperature is 73 degrees C, it is cooling at a rate of 1 degree C per minute. When does this occur?

Originally Posted by izzychec

I need help setting up the following problem.

A freshly brewed cup of coffee has temperature 95 degrees C in a 20 degree C room. When its temperature is 73 degrees C, it is cooling at a rate of 1 degree C per minute. When does this occur?

Newton's law of cooling states that the rate of cooling is proportional to the temperature difference between the coffee and its environment.



where is the coffee's temperature at any time and is the temperature of the environment.

you were given the rate of cooling at ... you should be able to find the proportion constant using that info.

once you do, separate variables and solve for as a function of and solve the problem.