[Physics] Humans have an average energy budget of $100$ Watts, but the power radiated from the body is $1000$ Watts

biologybiophysicsenergy-conservationthermal-radiationthermodynamics

On average a human consumes around $2000$ kilocalories per day. This converts to roughly $2000000$ calories / $86400$ seconds or around $100$ joules / second giving roughly $100$ watts.

But if you use human's body temperature of 310 Kelvin, the Stefan-Boltzmann law
$$P = e \sigma A T^4$$
says the power radiated by a human with a surface area of $2 \, \text{m}^2$ and emissitivity $1$ is 1000 watts.

What's wrong here?

Best Answer

You are forgetting that you also absorb radiation from the environment. The formula you want is

$$P_\text{net} = \epsilon A\sigma\left(T_\text{skin}^4 - T_\text{env}^4\right)$$

You can find more info on Hyperphysics: http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/thermo/bodrad.html

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