What will happen to the bread if a toaster is put

inside a freezer?
Background
How does a toaster work?
Heat is transferred to the bread by radiation. Nichrome wires in the toaster heat
to about 450 C and the infrared radiation that they emit dry the edges and toast
the bread.

How does a freezer work?
The primary way that heat is transferred in a freezer is by convection (heat
transfer by mass motion of fluid). A liquid refrigerant is vaporized into a gas and
is passes through evaporator coils inside the freezers. As it passes, it absorbs the
heat from the food and this heat then escapes to the surroundings.

Stefan Boltzmanns law
The Stefan-Boltzmann Law states that thermal energy radiated by a blackbody
radiator per second per unit area is proportional to the fourth power of
temperature (measured in Kelvin).
Qtoaster
= e A(T f 4 Ti 4 )
t
Qtoaster is heat transferred per unit time e is emissivity
is 5.67 10 8 A is radiating area (area of bread)
T f is temperature of radiator Ti is initial temperature of bread







 Newtons Law of Cooling
Newtons Law of Cooling states that thermal energy transferred by convection
per second per unit area is proportional to temperature (measured in Kelvin). It
is represented by the following formula:
Q! freezer
= hc (T f Ti )
A
Q! freezer is heat transferred per unit time A is area of the bread
hc convective heat transfer coefficient T f is temperature of freezer
Ti is initial temperature of bread

Approach
In a system where a toaster is placed inside a refrigerator, thermal energy is
given to the bread by the toaster and is absorbed by the freezer. This can
diagrammatically be represented by the figure below:

Thus, in order to determine what will happen to the bread, the net different in
energy, Qbread , needs to be calculated. Because Qbread = Qtoaster Q freezer :
If Qbread > 0, then the bread will be warmer because the toaster delivers
more energy to the bread than the freezer
If Qbread < 0, then the bread will be colder because the toaster delivers less
energy to the bread than the freezer
If Qbread = 0, then the bread will be at the same temperature because the
toaster delivers the same energy to the bread than the freezer


Calculations
Determining Qtoaster
Because the toaster uses radiation as the method of heat transfer, the Stefan-
Boltzmann Law can be used to determine the energy ( Qtoaster ) delivered to the
bread by the toaster:
Qtoaster
1. = e A(T f 4 Ti 4 ) [Stefan-Boltzmann Law]
t
2. Qtoaster = e At(T f 4 Ti 4 )
3. Assume:
Emissivity 0.85
Ti 23 C = 296 K
 T f 450 C = 723 K

4. Qtoaster = (0.85)(5.67 10 8 ) (723)4 (296)4 At ( )

5. Qtoaster = 12799.10(At)
6. Qtoaster = 12799.10(At)

Determining Qtoaster
Because the freezer uses convection to remove heat, Newtons Law of Cooling
can be used to determine the energy removed from the bread by the refrigerant
in the freezer:
Q! freezer
1. = hc (T f Ti ) [Newtons Law of Cooling]
A
Q freezer
2. = hc A(T f Ti )
t
3. Q freezer = hc At(T f Ti )
4. Assume:
hc (for gas at high W
300
pressure inside the tube m2K
and liquid outside the
tube)
Ti 23C = 296 K
T f 18C = 255 K

5. Q freezer = (300)(255 296)At
6. Q freezer = 12300At
7. Q freezer = 12300At

Determining Qbread
Qbread = Qtoaster Q freezer
Qbread = 12799.10(At) 12300At
Qbread = 499.10At

Conclusion
Because Qbread > 0 (as 499.10, A, and t are all positive), it means that Qtoaster is
greater than Q freezer . Therefore, the energy delivered to the bread by the
nichrome wires in the toaster is greater than the energy absorbed by the
refrigerant in the freezer. Thus, if a toaster is placed inside a freezer, it is likely
that the bread will still be warmed, but at a very slow pace (because the
difference in energy of Qtoaster and Q freezer is not very large). However, this is just
an approximation as different models of toasters and freezers can have different
effects. Additionally, the humidity in the freezers was not considered as a factor
in this paper, but it is likely that the humidity inside the freezer can change the
texture of the bread and affect the toasters capabilities.