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Your intuition is right in this case. A 2kW oven is more than enough to heat small chicken up to temperature. The author lazily took the 165F temperature and put it into a blackbody calculator without converting the units. Anything but the metric system...

Assuming the chicken has a surface area A=1m^2 (corresponding to a perfectly spherical chicken of radius=25cm/diameter=50cm, a little bigger than usual) and is a perfect blackbody (just going to handwave this one).

with the incorrect temperature: A blackbody with T=165°C (438 K) and A=1m^2 radiates P=2090 W.

with the correct temperature: A blackbody with T=74°C (347 K) and A=1m^2 radiates P=824 W.

Also neglected is the incoming radiation from the ambient environment. Without this, the "power loss" is closer to measuring the chicken in deep interstellar space. from a room temperature environment: T=20°C (293 K) and A=1m^2 radiates P=419 W onto the chicken.

The net power loss of the cooling chicken on the kitchen counter is therefore something like 824-419 = 405W, rapidly decreasing as the temperature drops towards room temperature. e.g. at 50°C it's around 200W.


"a little bigger": it would weigh 65 kg.


But ideally you could stuff it with a dozen thanksgiving turkeys themselves stuffed with ducks stuffed with regular chickens stuffed with sausages. Be prepared: there will probably be leftovers.


Or birds all the way down:

> In his 1807 Almanach des Gourmands, gastronomist Grimod de La Reynière presents his rôti sans pareil ("roast without equal")—a bustard stuffed with a turkey, a goose, a pheasant, a chicken, a duck, a guinea fowl, a teal, a woodcock, a partridge, a plover, a lapwing, a quail, a thrush, a lark, an ortolan bunting and a garden warbler—although he states that, since similar roasts were produced by ancient Romans, the rôti sans pareil was not entirely novel.


points for'a perfectly spherical chicken'.


And later put it in an interstellar space, no less!


How many interstellar spaces are there?




> The author lazily took the 165F temperature and…

Where did they even get 165F from in the first place? The “classic solution” article uses 400F, a much more appropriate oven temperature.


165F is the safe eating temperature recommended for most meats here in the U.S.


Apparently it was on at 17:30 on Channel 4, listed as "4 Computer Buffs" [0]. Channel 4 was an independent TV station, and one of only four over-the-air channels.

From another site [1] the show was one of a short series of 7 programmes, probably hosted by a professor on a sabbatical. You can cross-reference the time slot on the first site. In the same time slot, at other dates, are other computer-related shows like Me and My Micro [2].

In the UK, it was an era of affordable home computers and hobbyist activity in the media. There was a large variety of microcomputer systems, with one or more hobby-level magazines dedicated to each manufacturer. Television programs would often partner with magazines to present a column, recap, or serve as a reference for more detailed work. You see some screen time dedicated to building hardware, as I/O was very primitive and you had to do the grunt work yourself. Made to order PCBs and surface mount was quite a way off.

[0] https://tvrdb.com/listings/1985-02-11 [1] https://epguides.com/4ComputerBuffs/ [2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PSzIXg6jmZQ


This is so great. Thanks for the context.

What a wonderful time.


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