Physics Of Avoiding Hypothermia

Citizens of the Rochester area experienced a weather crisis of dangerous proportion a couple weeks ago, to varying degrees. When I realized the power was down,I was excited for what I assumed would be a temporary break from school, and physics, but was disappointed. My father, being a type-A scientist type, found a way to bless me with the joy of physics even during our dark age adventure. 

My home had no electricity for days, and therefore no heat. We do, however, have a wood stove with a blower.The blower requires electricity, and my father keeps a deep cell battery for emergencies. So my dad would charge the battery on his car, then plug the stove blower into the battery inside the house. He used a voltmeter to periodically measure the voltage, to watch for when it needed to be recharged.

He used  this chart, not letting the battery drop past 30%, to be as safe as possible. And boy was I thankful for this battery, as it kept our home warm enough to live in and allowed us to charge out phones. Also, the monitoring of the battery kept my dad busy and out of my hair.