In her bathroom, Mindy has an overhead heater that consists of a coiled wire made of nichrome that gets hot when turned on. The wire has a length of 2.70 m when it is uncoiled. The heating element is attached to the normal 120-V wiring, and when the wire is glowing red hot, it has a temperature of about 420°C and dissipates 2238 W of power. Nichrome has a resistivity of 108 × 10−8 Ω·m at 20°C and a temperature coefficient of resistivity of 0.00040°C−1. When the heater is first turned on, it has not yet heated up, so it is operating at 20°C. What is the current through the wire when it is first turned on?

Principles of Physics: A Calculus-Based Text
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Chapter21: Current And Direct Current Circuits
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In her bathroom, Mindy has an overhead heater that consists of a coiled wire made of nichrome that gets hot when turned on. The wire has a length of 2.70 m when it is uncoiled. The heating element is attached to the normal 120-V wiring, and when the wire is glowing red hot, it has a temperature of about 420°C and dissipates 2238 W of power. Nichrome has a resistivity of 108 × 10−8 Ω·m at 20°C and a temperature coefficient of resistivity of 0.00040°C−1.

When the heater is first turned on, it has not yet heated up, so it is operating at 20°C. What is the current through the wire when it is first turned on? 

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