A body was found at 10 a. m. outdoors on a day when the temperature was 40oF. The medical examiner found the temperature of the body to be 80oF. What was the approximate time of death? Use Newton's law of cooling, with k = 0.1947.

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Biology

Joey Madden

5 February, 22:55

A body was found at 10 a. m. outdoors on a day when the temperature was 40oF. The medical examiner found the temperature of the body to be 80oF. What was the approximate time of death? Use Newton's law of cooling, with k = 0.1947.

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Saige · Answer 1

We are given with the data that at 10 am, the temp is 40oF. We are asked for the time when the body's temperature is equal to 80oF. In this casem we use Newtons law of cooling: T (t) = Ta + (To - Ta) e - kt. Substituing, 98.6 = 40 + (80-40) e - 0.1947t. t is equal to. Hence the approximate time of death is - 1.96 hrs ago or approx two hours ago. The answer is 8 am.