- #1
contrivance
- 14
- 1
Homework Statement
The ceiling of a single-family dwelling in a cold climate should have an R-value of 30. To give such insulation, how thick would a layer of (a) polyurethane foam and (b) silver have to be?
per my book (W/mK)
[tex] k_p = 0.024[/tex]
[tex] k_s = 428[/tex]
Homework Equations
This is Thermal Resistance to Conduction (R-Value) and the equation is:
[tex] R={\frac{L}{k}} [/tex]
The 'R-Value' units per my book are
[tex] {\frac {ft^2 F^{\circ} h}{Btu}}[/tex]
The Attempt at a Solution
I assumed that I would just solve for L and find the thickness of each material, although I ran into the problem with mixed units (F, Btu, Ft). The solutions manual simply lays down a dimensional analysis, although I'm having trouble following it and getting the same resulting unit.
For Poly:
[tex]
({\frac{0.024W}{mK}})
({\frac{30ft^2 F^{\circ} h}{Btu}})
({\frac{m}{3.281ft}})^2
({\frac{5C^{\circ}}{9F^{\circ}}})
({\frac{3600s}{h}})
({\frac{Btu}{1055J}})
[/tex]
EDIT
Heh, as I was writing this, I figured it out. I wasn't thinking very carefully about which units cancel. So i'll finish anyways:
After cancelling most of the obvious stuff, we end up with (taking out numbers for analysis):
[tex]
{\frac{Wm^2sC^{\circ}}{mKJ}}
[/tex]
Which is where I was stuck, so there are two things here:
1. Rewrite C in K, and then they cancel
2. Rewrite J as W=J/s and then cancel.
We end up with m, which is the thickness (L) for the original question.
Now, my question is: How was I to assume that the R-Value '30' was in US units instead of SI units as my book has no mention of this value in SI units? Wouldn't it just be 1 h·ft²·°F/Btu = 0.176110 K·m²/W? (per wikipedia)