PHAS0027. Environmental Physics.

Model Answers for Problem Solving Tutorial 2

March 2022

Q1)
An air mass in the Northern hemisphere is moving northwards at a latitude of 60° with a
belocity of 10 ms-1. What is the Coriolis force per unit mass acting on the air parcel and
which direction is it acting?
What is the name of the condition where the Coriolis effect balances the pressure
gradient?

𝑭
The Coriolis force per unit mass is
"
= 𝑓# 𝑣$ 𝒙, where 𝒙 is the unit vector (axis orientations
are schematically shown in figure below), vg is the geostrophic wind speed (along y axis) and
the Coriolis coefficient is 𝑓! = 2Ω sin 𝜃, with Ω being the angular velocity of the Earth and 𝜃
is the latitude in the North hemisphere.

For the Earth’s angular velocity we have

2𝜋
Ω= ≈ 7.27 ⋅ 10"# 𝑠 "$
24 × 3600 𝑠
And hence

𝑓! = 2Ω sin 𝜃 = 2 × 7.27 ⋅ 10"# × sin 60° ≈ 1.26 ⋅ 10"% 𝑠 "$

Therefore the absolute value of the Coriolis force per unit mass is:

(
= 𝑓# 𝑣$ = 1.26 ⋅ 10)* 𝑠 )+ × 10 𝑚𝑠 )+ = 1.26 ⋅ 10), 𝑚𝑠 )- (or N kg-1).
"

Since the air is moving northwards in the Northern hemisphere the lower pressure should be
on the left, to the West. Therefore, the force due to the pressure gradient is to the West which
is balanced by the Coriolis force that must act in an Easterly direction.

The point where the Coriolis Effect balances the pressure gradient is called the geostrophic
balance.
Q2)
A rain droplet approaches the ground with a terminal velocity of 30 cm s-1. Assuming a
laminar flow and the viscosity coefficient of the air of 𝜼 = 𝟏. 𝟕𝟑 ⋅ 𝟏𝟎"𝟓 𝒌𝒈 𝒔"𝟏 𝒎"𝟏
calculate the diameter of the rain droplet.

At terminal velocity v the force on the droplet due to gravity is balanced by the drag force
that is defined by the Stokes law: 𝐹( = 6𝜋 𝜂 𝑟 𝑣, where r is the radius of the droplet. We
therefore can write:

4
𝑚𝑔 = 𝜋𝑟 ) 𝜌𝑔 = 6𝜋 𝜂 𝑟 𝑣
3

From which

9 𝜂𝑣 9 1.73 ⋅ 10"# 𝑘𝑔 𝑠 "$ 𝑚"$ × 0.3 𝑚𝑠 "$

𝑟=D =D ≈ 0.5 ⋅ 10"% 𝑚 = 0.05𝑚𝑚
2 𝜌𝑔 2 1000𝑘𝑔 𝑚") × 9.81𝑚𝑠 "*

Therefore, the diameter of the rain droplet is approximately 0.1mm.

Q3)
Consider a nuclear fission reaction:

𝟏
𝟎𝒏 + 𝟐𝟑𝟓
𝟗𝟐𝑼 →
𝟏𝟒𝟎
𝟓𝟒𝑿𝒆 + 𝟗𝟒 𝟏
𝟑𝟖𝑺𝒓 + 𝟐 𝟎𝒏

If a thermal nuclear power station produces 2GW of energy via the reaction above, how
many kilograms of 235U are used in a day?
Numerical data: Mass of neutron = 1.009u, mass of 235U = 235.044u,
mass of 140Xe = 139.922, mass of 94Sr = 93.915u.

The energy release is determined by the mass difference between the initial and final states of
the reaction:

[(1.009 + 235.044) − (139.922 + 93.915 + 2 ∗ 1.009)]𝑢 × 1.66 ⋅ 10"*1 𝑘𝑔

= 0.198 × 1.66 ⋅ 10"*1 𝑘𝑔 ≈ 0.329 ⋅ 10"*1 𝑘𝑔.

The energy released in the reaction is then

𝐸 = 𝑚𝑐 * = 0.329 ⋅ 10"*1 𝑘𝑔 × (3 ⋅ 102 𝑚𝑠 "$ )* ≈ 2.96 ⋅ 10"$$ 𝐽

$333
One kilogram of 235U will contain *)#
× 6.02 ⋅ 10*) ≈ 2.56 × 10*% atoms of 235U.

Therefore the total energy released by “burning” 1kg of 235U via the above fission reaction is
2.96 ⋅ 10"$$ × 2.56 ⋅ 10*% ≈ 7.58 ⋅ 10$) 𝐽 𝑘𝑔"$ .

The total energy a 2GW reactor produces in a day via this reaction is
2 ⋅ 104 𝑊 × 24 ⋅ 3600𝑠 ≈ 1.73 ⋅ 10$% 𝐽.
Therefore the mass of 235U used in a day in the fission reaction above is
$.1)⋅$3!" 7
1.#2⋅$3!# 7 9:$!
≈ 2.28𝑘𝑔

Q4)
(a) If the wind speed before a wind turbine is 15 ms-1 and the wind speed after the
turbine is 5 ms-1, and the wind turbine has a rotor of a 6 m radius, what is the power
that the turbine can generate?

(b) Does calculating the mean power of a wind turbine from the average wind speed at a
site (i) underestimate the actual delivered power? (ii) overestimate the actual delivered
power? (iii) provide an accurate estimate of the delivered power? Explain your
reasoning.

(a) The power generated by the wind turbine is given by

$
𝑃 = * 𝐴 𝐶; 𝜌 𝑣$) ,

where 𝐴 = 𝜋 𝑟 * is the area swept by the turbine blades with a radius r, 𝐶; = 4𝜀(1 − 𝜀)* , is
( "(
the coefficient of performance, 𝜀 = !*( % is the “perturbation” factor, v1 and v2 are the wind
!
speed before and after the turbine respectively and 𝜌 is the density of the air.
(! "(% $#"#
We have 𝜀 = *(!
= )3
≈ 0.33. 𝐶; = 4 × 0.33(1 − 0.33)* ≈ 0.5925

Therefore
1 1
𝑃 = 𝐴 𝐶; 𝜌 𝑣$) = 𝜋 × 36 𝑚* × 0.5925 × 1.29 𝑘𝑔𝑚") × 15) 𝑚) 𝑠 ") ≈ 145873 𝑊
2 2
≈ 146𝑘𝑊.

(b) Since power depend on v3, large velocities contribute more to the value of power.
Consequently, calculating power from the average wind speed at a site will underestimate the
actual delivered mean power.

Q5)
(a) A house has a 4m x 5m wall made up of layers of brick, concrete and plaster, and
also includes a window. The window is made of a single layer of glass 2.2 cm thick and
has an area of 1 m2. The thickness of brick, concrete and plaster of the wall are 4.5 cm,
6cm and 2cm respectively. Calculate the power loss through the wall if the temperature
difference across the wall is 8°𝑪.

(b) Calculate the thickness of an air gap that should be introduced between the brick
and concrete layers in order to halve the power loss though the wall (including the
window). Convection in the air gap may be neglected.

Numerical data: The thermal conductivity of the brick is 0.9 W m-1 K-1, of the concrete 0.5 W
m-1 K-1, of the plaster 0.17 W m-1 K-1, of glass 1.05 W m-1 K-1, and of air 0.024 W m-1 K-1.
(a) The power loss through the wall is calculated using the following formula:

𝑃 = 𝑈 𝐴 Δ𝑇,

where U is the thermal transmittance coefficient (a.k.a. U-value) for the wall that takes into
account all materials, A is the surface area of the wall/window, and Δ𝑇 is the temperature
drop across the wall/window.
The thermal resistances for the wall (without window) are:

0.045 𝑚
𝑅<=>!9 = = 0.05 𝑊 "$ 𝑚* 𝐾
0.9 𝑊 𝑚"$ 𝐾 "$
0.06 𝑚
𝑅!?@!=ABA = = 0.12 𝑊 "$ 𝑚* 𝐾
0.5 𝑊 𝑚"$ 𝐾 "$
0.02 𝑚
𝑅;CDEBA= = = 0.118 𝑊 "$ 𝑚* 𝐾
0.17 𝑊 𝑚"$ 𝐾 "$

The total U-value for the wall section (without the window):

1
= 0.05 + 0.12 + 0.118 = 0.288 𝑊 "$ 𝑚* 𝐾 → 𝑈FDCC ≈ 3.47 𝑊 𝑚"* 𝐾 "$
𝑈FDCC

$.3# H I$! J $!
For the window, 𝑈F>@G?F = 3.3** I
≈ 47.7 𝑊 𝑚"* 𝐾 "$

The total power loss through the wall including the window1:

𝑃B?BDC = 𝑃FDCC + 𝑃F>@G?F = 𝑈FDCC 𝐴FDCC Δ𝑇 + 𝑈F>@G?F 𝐴F>@G?F Δ𝑇

= 3.47 𝑊 𝑚"* 𝐾 "$ × 19𝑚* × 8𝐾 + 47.7 𝑊 𝑚"* 𝐾 "$ × 1𝑚* × 8𝐾
≈ 527.4 𝑊 + 381.6 𝑊 = 909 𝑊

(b) To halve the power loss:

𝑃B?BDC
= 454.5𝑊 = 𝑈@AF × 19𝑚* × 8𝐾 + 381.6 𝑊
2
from which
𝑈@AF = 0.48 𝑊 𝑚"* 𝐾 "$

Rearranging we have:

$ K
3.%2 H I$% J $!
= g0.05 + 0.12 + 0.118 + 3.3*%h 𝑊 "$ 𝑚* 𝐾,

where 𝑥 is the air gap thickness. Solving this we obtain 𝑥 = 0.043 𝑚.

Therefore, to halve the power loss across the wall an air gap of 4.3 cm should be introduced.

1
Since the temperature difference is used in the power loss formula “K” and “°𝐶” units can be used for
temperature interchangeably. “K” is used in the calculation to match units.