Question

Your house is 1000.0 sq. ft., and you have a natural gas furnace. 60,000. BTUs of heat per square foot are required to

heat your house for one winter season. A) How many BTUs of energy will be needed? B) If one cubic foot of natural gas
supplies 1,000. BTUs of heat, how many cubic feet of natural gas will be needed for this one winter season?

Answer 1

Part A:

We multiply 1000 square feet by 60,000 BTUs/sq ft. and get 60000000 BTUs to heat the entire house. So, 6*10^7 is our answer for Part A. (6 followed by 7 zeroes.

Part B:

We can divide 6*10^7 by 10^3 and get 6*10^4. So, 6*10^4 is our answer for Part B. (60000 cubic feet of gas are required to heat the house.