Additional concepts on Electric Circuits Problems

The circuits involve 4 kinds of elements:

1. An electromotive force (emf)

E(volts) usually a battery or generator drives an electric charge

q(coulombs) and produce a current i(amperes). The current i defined is the rate of flow of
dq
i
dt
charge and we can write

2. A resistor or resistance R(ohms) is a component of a circuit that opposes the current,

dissipating the energy in the form of heat. It produces a drop in voltage given by ohms law,
ER Ri
3. An inductor or inductance L(henry) opposes any charge in current by producing a voltage drop
of
EL L

di
dt

4. A capacitor or capacitance C(farad) stores charge. In so doing, it resists the flow of further
charge, causing a drop in the voltage amounting to:

EC L

q
c

EXERCISES : Application Word Problems of FOODE

1. A certain population of bacteria grows at a rate that is proportional to the number present. It is
found that the number doubles in 2 hours, how long does it take to triple the original
population?
2. Assume that radium disintegrates at a rate proportional to the amount present. If 100 mg
reduces to 90 mg. in 100 yrs., how many milligrams will remain at the end of 1000 years?
Find the half-life.
3. Radioactive carbon-14 fossil decays at a rate proportional to its amount present and has a
half-life of approximately 5,700 yrs. Estimate the age of a fossil in which 80% of its carbon14 has decayed?
4. Coffee at temperature

1800 F

750 F

is cooling in a room with constant temperature

. If it takes
0
155 F
for the coffee temperature to reach
, what additional time is needed for the coffee to
1300 F
cool to
?
700 F

5. A thermometer reading
is placed in an oven preheated to a constant temperature.
Through a glass window in the oven door, an observer records that the thermometer reads
1100 F
1450 F
after half-minute and
after one minute. How hot is the oven?
6. At 2:00 pm. a thermometer reading

800 F

200 F

is taken outside where the air temperature is

.
0
42 F
At 2:03 pm. the temperature reading yielded by the thermometer is
. Later, the
0
80 F
710 F
thermometer is brought inside where the air is
. At 2:10 pm. the reading is
.
When was the thermometer brought indoors?

7. An inductance of 2 henry and a resistance of 10 ohms are connected in series with and
electromotive force of 100 volts. Determine a) the current i as a function of time t b) what is
the current at the end of 0.1 second?

R
8. A variable resistance

5 t )

5 x106

and a capacitance of
farad are connected in series
q (0) 0
with an electromotive force of 100 volts. If
, what is the charge on the capacitor after
1 minute?

9. An inductance of 1 henry and a resistance of 2 ohms are connected in series with battery of
6e 0.0001
volt. . No current is flowing initially. When will the current measure 0.5 ampere?
10. A 600 gallons brine tank is to be cleared by piping in pure water at 1 gal/min. , and allowing
the well-stirred solution to flow out at the rate of 2 gal/min. If the tank initially contains 1500
pounds of salt, a) how much salt is left in the tank after 1 hour? b) after 9 hours and 59 min?

11. A tank contains 40 gal brine for which the concentration is initially 3 lb/gal of salt. A brine
solution is pumped into the tank at the rate of 5 gal/min. and the mixture, kept uniform by
stirring, runs out at the same rate. If the concentration of the solution flowing in is 2 lb/gal,
a) determine the amount of salt in the tank at anytime t, b) how much salt is present after 10
min? c) after a long time?
12. A tank contains 80 gal of pure water. Brine solution with 2 lb/gal of salt enters at 2 gal/min,
and the well-stirred mixture leaves at the same rate. Find a) the amount of salt in the tank
after half an hour? b) determine the limiting value for the amount of salt in the tank after a
long time, and c) how much time must pass before the amount of salt in the tank reaches
80% of this limiting value?
13. A certain type of glass is such that a slab 1 thick absorbs one-quarter of the light which
starts to pass through it. How thin must a pane of be made to absorb only 1% of the light?
14. Find the velocity of escape of the Apollo spaceship as it is projected from the earths surface,
that is the minimum velocity imparted to it so that it will never return. The radius of the
earth is 4000 miles and the acceleration of the spaceship is 32.2 (Express your answer in
kph.)
15. An object is thrown vertically upward from the ground with initial velocity of 1960 cm/sec.
Neglecting the air resistance, find:
a) the maximum height reached
b) the total time taken to return to the starting point.