THERMO Spoken Here! ~ J. Pohl © TOC     NEXT    ~   171

Hot Shot

In the earlier Example Point Blank a sailing man-of-war fired a first cannon shot at the enemy. If that shot was on target it is likely the next round would be a "hot shot." These rounds were heated in a coal fire until they were cherry red (about 1200°C). The shot was then loaded, "oh so carefully," and fired.

The internal energy of a solid shot is increased by the heat it receives from the very hot coal fire. From basic physics, the increase of internal energy of the shot equals the product of its mass times its specific heat times the degrees of temperature increase. Calculate the heat delivered to the shot of mass 24 pounds. An average specific heat (determined experimentally) for iron is: 0.35 (Joules/gram °C).


From "Point Blank," the kinetic energy was calculated to be 93,242 ft-lbf. The energy of a hot shot is more than 250 times greater. The intention in firing the hot shot is to set the enemy ship afire.

Hot Shot

In the earlier Example Point Blank a sailing man-of-war fired a first cannon shot at the enemy. If that shot was on target it is likely the next round would be a "hot shot." These rounds were heated in a coal fire until they were cherry red (about 1200°C). The shot was then loaded, "oh so carefully," and fired.

Premise presently unwritted!