Over the summer you are working on an experiment to be sent on a robot probe to Mars. The experiment has a circuit constructedto melt a container of water for a nutrient broth experiment to test for the presence of life. The circuit is specified so that the 70 Ω resistor in the circuit at right starts embedded in a 400 g block of ice at -63 oC (an average day on Mars), melts it, and heats the water to 23oC in 30 minutes time. Assume that all the power from the resistor is perfectly transferred to the water without any losses. What minimum voltage does the power source have to be for the circuit to do its job in at least 20 minutes?
It may not be possible to get solar panels that will provide the voltage needed at a steady enough rate so the mission planners may need to use charged capacitors in place of the battery in the circuit shown. If that substitution is made it will be a number of 500 milli farad capacitors each changed to a voltage of 500 volts. What is the minimum number of those capacitors will you need and should they be wired together in series or parallel in order to melt the ice in less than 20 minutes?
