One way of measuring the thermal conductivity of a material is to sandwich an electric thermofoil heater between two identical rectangular samples of the material and to heavily insulate the four outer edges, as shown in the figure. Thermocouples attached to the inner and outer surfaces of the samples record the temperatures.

During an experiment, two 0.5-cm thick samples 10 cm × 10 cm in size are used. When steady operation is reached, the heater is observed to draw 25 W of electric power, and the temperature of each sample is observed to drop from 82°C at the inner surface to 74°C at the outer surface. Determine the thermal conductivity of the material at the average temperature.

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Insulation Samples Wattmeter -Insulation Source 0.5 cm Resistance heater