NAME:

CHE 312 Transport Phenomena II

27 Jan 2014

Quiz 1: Steady heat & mass diffusion across a thin film

(Original problems: do not repost anywhere without permission)
Read the questions carefully. Very carefully! State any assumptions you make. Watch the dimensions. Use
SI units in your final numerical answer. Enjoy!
Problem 1: Energy losses
In the coldest month in winter, the average outside temperature is a cold Tw. You maintain the temperature
inside the house at a warm, balmy Th (Th > Tw, duh!) throughout the year. In the warmest month in
summer, the average temperature outside rises to Ts such that Ts > Th. In summers, you need to cool the
house, in winters you need to warm up the house. Lets say all of the heat transfer occurs from six walls of
a windowless room (you chose to live inside a windowless Cube), each wall has surface area A, thickness
h and thermal conductivity k. We are going to assume that a steady state heat transfer exists throughout
this problem.
(a) What is the average heat flux through a wall in that summer month?
(10)
(b) Walls conduct heat. If the absolute value of heat flux in summers is half of the magnitude of heat flux
in winter, what is the temperature difference between winter and summer? It is known to you that the
average temperatures are such that Th =1.1Tw
(20)
(c) What is the total amount of energy consumed in time t in winter?
(20)
(d) You decide to move into another cubic house with walls twice as thick, that are made with a material
that has a thermal conductivity of k/4. Compare the heat flux out of this new house in the winter month
with your former house. Is this house better for saving energy?
(10)

NAME:
CHE 312 Transport Phenomena II
27 Jan 2014

Problem 2: Transdermal diffusion

Nicotine patch relies on diffusion. Medicine patches rely on slow release of a drug molecule into your
body. You are just hired by your favorite cosmetics company and on the first day of your new job, you
discover that one of the ingredients in your favorite perfume can cause cancer. Before panicking, you
decide to think about the problem in quantitative terms, and realize that this problem similar to nicotine
patch diffusion problem.
Let us say that the perfume coats an area S = 10 cm2 on your skin, the diffusivity of the cancer causing
molecules (species A) into skin (species B) is DAB = 10-9 cm2/s, thermal conductivity of skin is k = 0.1
W/m.K, the thickness of your skin is h = 1 cm, density of skin is 1000 kg/m3, heat capacity is 4000 J/kg.K,
and the mass fraction within the skin surface is maintained at =0.01 for two hours.
(a) Estimate the distance covered by cancer causing molecules that are diffusing into skin in two
hours. Will it penetrate your skin and enter the blood stream within this time?
(20)
(b) Calculate the mass flux, assuming a steady state mass transfer is somehow established, and the
mass fraction of the drug underneath your skin is kept at zero. How much mass of cancer-causing
drug do you accumulate in two hours? The lethal dose is supposed to be 1 10-6 kg per kg body
weight. Are the perfume users with typical weight of 70 kg going to die with a single use of
perfume?
(20)