APPLICATIONS

Mixture Problems
Electrical Circuits
Mixture Problems
A container initially contains 𝑉0
gallons of brine with 𝑎 pounds of
salt per gallon of brine. A brine
solution with 𝑏 lb/gal of brine is
pumped into the container at a
constant rate of 𝑒 gal/min. The
well-stirred mixture leaves the
container at 𝑓 gal/min. Find the
amount of salt in the container as
a function of time.
Solution. Let us introduce the following symbols:
𝑡 Time, in minutes from the start of the process
𝑉 Volume of solution in the tank at time 𝑡
𝑄 Amount (pounds) of salt in the tank at time 𝑡
𝑑𝑄
= 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑛 − (𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡)
𝑑𝑡
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑛 = 𝑏 (𝑙𝑏Τ𝑔𝑎𝑙) × 𝑒 (𝑔𝑎𝑙Τmin)
𝑄 (𝑙𝑏)
𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡 = × 𝑓 (𝑔𝑎𝑙 Τmin)
𝑉 (𝑔𝑎𝑙)
𝑉 = 𝑉0 + 𝑒 (𝑔𝑎𝑙Τmin) × 𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛 − 𝑓 (𝑔𝑎𝑙Τmin) × 𝑡 (𝑚𝑖𝑛)
 𝑑𝑄 𝑄𝑓
= 𝑏𝑒 −
𝑑𝑡 𝑉0 + 𝑒𝑡 − 𝑓𝑡
𝑑𝑄 𝑓
+ 𝑄 = 𝑏𝑒
𝑑𝑡 𝑉0 + 𝑒 − 𝑓 𝑡
Note that this differential equation may be solved by the
integrating factor method.
Recommendation. Do not memorize this formula. It is more
useful to remember that
𝑑𝑄
= 𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑖𝑛 − (𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑜𝑢𝑡)
𝑑𝑡
Example 1. A tank contains 80 gallons of pure water. A brine
solution with 2 lb/gal of salt enters at 2 gal/min, and the
well-stirred solution leaves at same rate. Find (a) the amount
of salt in the tank at at any time and (b) the time at which
the brine leaving will contain 1lb/gal of salt.
Solution. (a) We denote by 𝑄 the amount of salt at time 𝑡.
𝑑𝑄 𝑄×2
= 2 𝑙𝑏Τ𝑔𝑎𝑙) × 2 (𝑔𝑎𝑙Τ𝑚𝑖𝑛 −
𝑑𝑡 80 + 2𝑡 − 2𝑡
𝑑𝑄 𝑄 𝑑𝑄 𝑄
=4− 𝑜𝑟 + =4
𝑑𝑡 40 𝑑𝑡 40
 𝑡/40
The integrating factor is 𝐼 = 𝑒 and the general solution is
𝑡/40
‫׬‬ 4𝑒 160𝑒 𝑡/40 + 𝑐 −𝑡/40
𝑄 = 𝑡/40 = 𝑡/40
= 160 + 𝑐𝑒
𝑒 𝑒
To find the constant of integration, we substitute the initial
condition 𝑄 = 0 (pure water at the start) at 𝑡 = 0.
0 = 160 + 𝑐𝑒 0 ∴ 𝑐 = −160
−𝑡/40
(a) 𝑄 = 160 − 160𝑒
(b) The time when the brine will contain salt at1 lb/gal.
𝑄 160 − 160𝑒 −𝑡/40 −𝑡/40
1= = = 2 − 2𝑒
𝑉 80 + 2𝑡 − 2𝑡
Solving for 𝑡, we get 𝑡 = 27.7 nin.
Exercises.
1. Solve the last example if the container initially contains
80 gal brine solution with 5 lb/gal salt, pure water
comes in at 2 gal/min, and the well-stirred mixture
𝑡 3
leaves at 3 gal/min. Ans: (a) 𝑄 = 400 1 − (b)
80
44.22 min.
2. Solve the same problem if the container initially
contains 80 gal brine solution with 5 lb/gal salt, pure
water comes in at 2 gal/min, and the well-stirred
32000
solution leaves at 1 gal/min. Ans: (a) 𝑄 = (b)
(80+𝑡)
98.88 min
𝑅𝐶 Circuit
The adjacent figure shows a 𝑅
capacitor discharging through
a resistor. Let us use the
following symbols:
𝑡 Time, in seconds 𝐶
𝐶 Capacitance, in farads A capacitor with
𝑅 Resistance, in ohms capacitance 𝐶
𝑉 Voltage, in volts discharging
𝐼 Current, in amperes through a resistor
𝑞 Charge, in coulombs with resistance 𝑅.
The differential equation corresponding to the discharging
capacitor is
𝑑𝑞
= −𝐼
𝑑𝑡
The following equations are useful:
𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑞 = 𝐶𝑉
𝑑𝑞 𝑑𝑉 𝑉
Since 𝑞 = 𝐶𝑉, then = 𝐶 . And since 𝐼 = then our
𝑑𝑡 𝑑𝑡 𝑅
differential equation becomes
𝑑𝑉 𝑉
=−
𝑑𝑡 𝑅𝐶
The differential equation may be solved by separation of
variables. Verify that the solution is
𝑉 = 𝑉0 𝑒 −𝑡/(𝑅𝐶)
Using the equations 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅 and 𝑞 = 𝐶𝑉, we can obtain from
the above equation the following formulas:
𝐼 = 𝐼0 𝑒 −𝑡/(𝑅𝐶)
𝑞 = 𝑞0 𝑒 −𝑡/(𝑅𝐶)
Observe that as 𝑡 → ∞, we have 𝑒 −𝑡/(𝑅𝐶) → 0 . Therefore,
eventually, the voltage 𝑉, the current 𝐼, the charge 𝑞 will be
zero. The capacitor is completely discharged
Example 1. A capacitor with a capacitance of 1000 𝜇𝑓 is
discharging through a 500 ohm resistor. When will the
voltage across the capacitor be reduced to 50% ?
Solution. We use the formula obtained before:
𝑉 = 𝑉0 𝑒 −𝑡/(𝑅𝐶)
−𝑡/(500×1000×10−6 )
0.5 𝑉0 = 𝑉0 𝑒
0.5 = 𝑒 −2𝑡
Solving for 𝑡, we get 𝑡 = 0.346 sec
Remark. The quantity 𝑅𝐶 is called the time constant of the
capacitor.
If we set 𝑡 = 𝑅𝐶, then 𝑉 = 𝑉0 𝑒 −1 = 0.3679𝑉0 . Therefore,
the time constant 𝑅𝐶 is the amount of time needed to bring
the voltage (or current or charge) to 36.79% of the initial
value.
Exercises
1. A capacitor is discharged through a 10 × 106 ohm
resistor and it is found that the time constant is 200
seconds. Calculate the value of the capacitance.
2. Calculate the time for the potential across a 100 𝜇𝑓
capacitor to fall to 80% of its initial value if it is
discharged through a 20,000 ohm resistor.
The adjacent figure shows a
capacitor charging. An
analysis of the circuit gives
us the following equation:
𝐼𝑅 + 𝑉 = 𝐸
The quantity 𝐼𝑅 is the voltage drop across the resistor. The
quantity 𝑉 is the potential across the capacitor. The quantity
𝐸 is the source of emf. But 𝑞 = 𝐶𝑉. Therefore,
𝑞
𝐼𝑅 + = 𝐸
𝐶
Dividing the equation through by 𝑅 gives
𝑞 𝐸
𝐼+ =
𝑅𝐶 𝑅
𝑑𝑞 𝑞 𝐸
+ =
𝑑𝑡 𝑅𝐶 𝑅
We see that this is solvable by integrating factor. Assuming
that at 𝑡 = 0, we have 𝑉 = 0, 𝑞 = 0, 𝐼 = 0, then
𝑞 = 𝐸𝐶(1 − 𝑒 −𝑡Τ 𝑅𝐶
)
Putting 𝑞 = 𝐶𝑉, we get
−𝑡 Τ 𝑅𝐶
𝑉 = 𝐸(1 − 𝑒 )
Putting 𝑉 = 𝐼𝑅, we get
𝐸 −𝑡 Τ 𝑅𝐶
𝐼 = (1 − 𝑒 )
𝑅
In summary, here are the charging equations:
𝑞 = 𝐸𝐶(1 − 𝑒 −𝑡Τ 𝑅𝐶
)
−𝑡Τ 𝑅𝐶
𝑉 = 𝐸(1 − 𝑒 )
𝐸
𝐼 = (1 − 𝑒 −𝑡Τ 𝑅𝐶 )
𝑅
Can you tell what happens to 𝑞, 𝑉, and 𝐼 as 𝑡 → ∞?
𝑅𝐿 Circuit
Basically, an inductor is a coil of wire. If 𝐿 is the self
inductance of an inductor and 𝑉 is the voltage across its
𝑑𝐼 𝑉 𝑑𝐼 𝑉
terminals, then = in the charging process and = −
𝑑𝑡 𝐿 𝑑𝑡 𝐿
in the discharging process.

Discharging Charging
 Discharging and Charging an Inductor

Discharging Charging
•
𝑑𝐼
=−
𝑉 • 𝑉 + 𝐼𝑅 = 𝐸
𝑑𝑡 𝐿 𝑑𝐼
•
𝑑𝐼
=−
𝐼𝑅 • 𝐿 + 𝐼𝑅 = 𝐸
𝑑𝑡
𝑑𝑡 𝐿 𝑑𝐼 𝑅 𝐸
•
𝑑𝐼 𝑅
= − 𝑑𝑡 • +𝐼 =
𝑑𝑡 𝐿 𝐿
𝐼 𝐿 𝐸
•
𝑅𝑡
ln 𝐼 = − + 𝑐1 • 𝐼 = (1 − e−𝑅𝑡/𝐿 )
𝑅
𝐿
𝑉0 −𝑅𝑡/𝐿 • Note that 𝐼 = 0 when 𝑡 = 0
• 𝐼= 𝑒
𝑅