[hakken306]

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.

[petters]

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

[bregma]

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.

[fifticon]

points for'a perfectly spherical chicken'.

[ptero]

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

[lelandfe]

For the uninitiated https://wikipedia.org/wiki/Spherical_cow

[pansa2]

> 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.

[CitrusFruits]

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