You use a \( 1500-\mathrm{W} \) hair dryer for 5 min every morning to dry your hair. a) How much electrical energy are you changing to heat every day? b) If you could transfer all of that energy to heating up water for a shower, how much water could you heat from \( 20^{\circ} \mathrm{C} \) to \( 45^{\circ} \mathrm{C} \) ? c) If one kilogram of water is about 0.26 gal (gallons), how many gallons of water does that represent? Is that enough water to take a shower? How much water do you think you use in a typical shower in your own home? d) Make a statement in your log about which use of this amount of energy would make most sense in your appliance package - using the hairdryer to
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Using your \( 1500-\mathrm{W} \) hair dryer for 5 minutes daily means you're using \( 1500 \, \mathrm{W} \times \frac{5 \, \mathrm{min}}{60 \, \mathrm{s}} = 125 \, \mathrm{Wh} \) of electrical energy each day, which converts to \( 125 \, \mathrm{Wh} \times 3.6 \, \mathrm{MJ/Wh} \approx 450 \, \mathrm{kJ} \) in energy. This is equivalent to heating around 1.531 kg of water through the equation \( Q = mc\Delta T \), where for \( Q = 450 \, \mathrm{kJ} \), \( m \) represents mass, \( c = 4.184 \, \mathrm{kJ/(kg \cdot °C)} \) (specific heat of water), and \( \Delta T = 25 \, °C \). Now, to determine the gallons, 1 kg of water is about 0.26 gallons, so \( 1.531 \, \text{kg} \approx 0.40 \, \text{gallons} \). That's not a lot! A typical shower uses around 2-5 gallons of water, so the amount heated by your hair dryer wouldn't be sufficient for a proper wash. Most households might use upwards of 15-25 gallons on average, so let's say the hair dryer is probably best left for its intended purpose—drying your hair while your shower heads do the heavy lifting!