by Lauren Harris &

Harini Ramireddy
 The Purpose
of Our Investigation
“ To truly understand and prove the validity of Newton’s law of Cooling”

• Background of the Mathematician

• The Experiment and Devices Used

• Theories Concerning this Law

 of
History
Sir Isaac Newton (1642–1727)

 English physicist,
mathematician, and natural
philosopher

 Born in Lincolnshire,
England in mid-seventeenth
century to a farming family

 Attended Cambridge
College
 Newton’s Other
Accomplishments
• Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica
• Laws of Motion
• Laws of Universal Gravitation

• Modern Study of Optics

• Determination of the speed of sound in air, Newton’s Method, etc.

• Involved in the development of Calculus

• Scala Graduum Calories

 Newton Thermometer
• Long glass stem with a hollow bulb on the bottom

• Filled with linseed oil opposed to mercury: different benefits

• amber color
• high boiling point
• coefficient of expansion

• Use of the Celsius scale

• “Reference temperatures”
 What is
Newton’s Law of Cooling?
• Newton's Law of Cooling states that the rate of change of the

temperature of an object is proportional to the difference between its

own temperature and the ambient temperature.

• If T is the temperature of the object at time t, and Ts is the

dT
surrounding temperature, then:
 k T  Ts 
dt
• Since d T=d (T-Ts) , the above equation can be rewritten as:
d
T  Ts   k T  Ts 
dt
• Its solution, by the law of exponential change is Newton’s Law of Cooling:

T  Ts  T0  Ts e  kt
 Misleading Data
• When graphed upon a scale of
temperature difference ratio versus
time, the data does not follow the trend
assumed by Newton

• Results obtained by Newton’s experiments do not follow a straight

line; they follow a curve with a gradually decreasing slope.

• Newton’s own data using his unique device was skewed!

 The Two Reasons
Why Newton’s Data was Misleading

1. Linseed oil cooled faster in the stem of the

thermometer than in the bulb
surface-area/volume ratio was roughly three times greater in the stem than in the bulb

2. Convection currents within the thermometer

currents caused mixing of the cooler oil in the stem with the warmer oil in the bulb

How Do We Fix These Problems?

 Why do we care?
• discovery that the data from Newton’s own thermometer did not support
his own Law of Cooling leads one to question whether it is truly applicable

• fortunately, his theory and equations have been proven many times over
and have been found to be accurate .

• it is fascinating that even though Newton created a unique device to test his
hypothesis about temperature change, his data did not follow assumptions!

* We believe that one must consider all aspects of a mathematician’s life

and past work to fully conclude whether or not his ideas are valid in the study of

calculus 
THE END.