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An elephant and a mouse are running in full sunlight, and both overheat by the same amount above their normal body temperatures. When they move into the shade and rest, which animal will cool down faster?

User Qrazi
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1 Answer

3 votes

OPTIONS:

a. the elephant will because it has the higher surface area to volume ratio

b. the elephant will because it has the lower surface area to volume ratio

c. they will cool at the same rate because they overheated by the same amount

d. the mouse will because it has the higher surface area to volume ratio

Answer:

d. the mouse will because it has the higher surface area to volume ratio

Step-by-step explanation:

The rate of cooling down or heat loss from the body of animals is directly related to the ratio of the surface area to volume. This is simply due to he fact that, the body mass or volume of an animal increases cubically, while its surface area increases as squared. In order words, As the animal grows bigger, the inside volume increases more than its outside or body surface area. Therefore, the larger the surface area-to-volume ratio of an animal, the faster the rate of cooling down or heat loss.

  • A mouse, in comparison to an elephant, has higher surface area to volume ratio, hence, the mouse would cool down faster than the elephant .
User Parag Kutarekar
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