Question: At 1:00 pm one winter afternoon, there is a power failure at your house in Wisconsin, and your heat does not work without electricity. When the power goes out, it is 68°F in your house. At 10:00 pm, it is 57°F in the house, and you notice that it is 10°F outside.
(a) Assuming that the temperature, T, in your home obeys Newton's Law of Cooling, write the differential equation satisfied by T.
(b) Solve the differential equation to estimate the temperature in the house when you get up at 7:00 am the next morning. Should you worry about your water pipes freezing?
(c) What assumption did you make in part (a) about the temperature outside? Given this (probably incorrect) assumption, would you revise your estimate up or down? Why?