Can Newton's law of cooling be applied to heating as well?

Question

Newton's law of cooling says that the rate of change of an object's temperature is proportional to the difference between the object's temperature and the temperature of its environment. However, can the rate of change be positive? How would this work?

Answer 1

It's exactly the same. The temperature change of an object is Qk where Q is the thermal energy gained (or lost) and k is the specific heat. Newtons law simply says that for a large delta T, the rate of transfer of Q is larger. In a lot of ways, it's very much like Ohms Law and charging a capacitor through a resistance.

HTH ☺

Doug

Answer 2

Yes it can. Just as a refrigerator doesn't add cold, it removes heat. Therefore, when you heat something, it doesn't remove cold, it adds heat. It excites electrons to different orbitals.