Solution

ID: past-exam-of-the-physics-b-course-of-the-university-of-cambridge/2018/paper-2/section-c/c12/surface-cooling/solution

Replacing the fixed surface temperature by Newton's law of cooling changes the boundary condition but not the radial derivative in steady state. At the surface,
Hence
Here is a surface heat transfer coefficient in , unrelated to the surface tension symbol used in C10. An independent energy-balance check uses a length : the electrical input must equal the surface loss , which gives the same answer.
The complete temperature profile is
Thermal conductivity controls the internal gradient, but cancels from the surface-temperature rise because all generated power must eventually cross the prescribed surface. This assumes positive constant , uniform electrical conductivity and negligible end or additional radiative losses; temperature-dependent material properties could make the heating and boundary problem nonlinear.

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