PROBLEMS

IN
DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS

1. A tank contains fresh water. Brine holding 2 lb/gal of salt runs into the tank at the rate of 4
gal/min and the mixture assumed uniforms runs out at the rate of 3 gal/min. If the
concentration is to reach 90% of the maximum value in 30 min, how many gallons of water
should there be in the tank originally?

2. A classroom is 200 ft long, 45 ft wide and 12 ft high. It is fed by ventilators with fresh air at
the rate of 10,000 cu. ft/min. Fresh air contains 0.045% carbon dioxide by volume. Students
enter the classroom at 0700 hrs. At 0730 hrs the carbon dioxide content in the room has
increased from 0.04% to 0.12% by volume. Assuming the carbon dioxide generation by the
students is constant, a) what is the carbon dioxide content in the room by 1200 hrs? b) How
much fresh air must be blown into the classroom in cu. ft./min so that the carbon dioxide
content in the classroom will not exceed 0.10%.

3. Calculate the time in hours it will take to reach the fatal concentration of 40% methane in a
kitchen measuring 15’ x 12.5’ x 8’ from a leaking stove. The rate of leak is 15 cu. ft. of 100%
methane per hour. Assume no fresh air is coming in. The gas rate is measured at the
condition prevailing in the kitchen.

4. The rate at which a solid substance dissolves varies directly as the amount of undissolved
solids present in the solvent and as the difference between the saturation concentration of
the substance and the instantaneous concentration. Five grams of chemical A are placed in a
solution of 100 cc of liquid B which, when saturated, will hold 10 grams of A. If 2 grams of A
are in solution in 1 hour, how many grams of A are in solution in 2 hours?

5. A tank initially contains salt in the pores of inert material and 10 gallons of fresh water. The
salt dissolved at a rate per minute of 2 times the difference between 3 lb/gal and the
concentration of the brine. Two gallons of fresh water enter the tank per minute. How much
salt will dissolve in the first 10 minutes? In the second 10 minutes?

6. Radium decomposes at a rate that is proportional to the amount present. If 100 mg are set
aside now, there will be 96 mg left 100 years hence. Find how much will be left centuries
from the time radium was set aside. How much will be left 2.68 centuries hence? What is the
half life of radium?

7. A new water pump has a capacity of 60 cu. m/day. If its capacity goes down by 15% every
year, in how many years will the capacity be down to 20 cu. m/day?

8. If in the culture of a particular type of yeast, the amount of active ferment doubles in 3
hours, a) How much active ferment should there be after 15 hour, at the same rate of
growth? b) Compute the amount of active ferment after 20 hours under the same
conditions?

9. A mothball loss mass by evaporation at a rate that is proportional to the surface area. If half
its mass is lost in 100 days, how long will it take its radius to decrease to half of its initial
value?
10. A substance containing 10 lbs of moisture is placed in a sealed room whose volume is 2000
cu. ft and which when saturated can hold 0.015 lb of moisture. If the substance losses 4 lbs

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 of moisture in 1 hour, how much time is required for the substance to lose 80% of its
moisture content? Assume the substance loses moisture at a rate that is proportional to the
moisture content and to the difference between the moisture content of the saturated air
and the moisture content of the air.

11. According to Newton’s Law of cooling, the rate at which the temperature of a body
decreases if proportional to the difference between the instantaneous temperature of the
body and the temperature of the surrounding medium. If a body whose temperature is
initially 1000C is allowed to cool in air which remains constant at the temperature of 20 0C,
and if it is observed that in 10 minutes the body has cooled to 800C, find the temperature of
the body as a function of time.

12. A thermometer is used to record the temperature of boiling water at sea level, the pressure
being 760 mmHg. Then it is removed and placed over ice. At the end of 1 minute the
temperature is 500C, find the time when the temperature is 100C.

13. A body having a temperature of 1000C was placed in a room whose temperature is 00C. At
the end of 1 minute the temperature was reduced to 500C. What is the temperature of the
body after 3 minutes?

14. A 50-lb iron ball is heated to 2000F and is then immediately plunged into a vessel containing
100 lbs of water whose temperature is 400F. The specific heat of iron is 0.11.
a. Find the temperature of the iron as a function of time.
b. Find the common temperature approached by the iron and water as time
approaches infinity.

15. A room 30’ x 30’ x 10’ contains air at 1000F. A fan blows 900 cu. ft/min of air at 650F into the
room and the room’s air, assumed uniform in temperature, leaves at the same rate. How
much time will elapse before the room temperature is 700F?

16. A tank and its contents weigh 100 lbs. The average specific heat of the system is 0.6 BTU/lb-
0
F. The liquid in the tank is heated by an immersion heater which delivers 120 BTU/min. Heat
is lost from the system at a rate that is proportional to the difference between the
temperature of the system, assumed constant throughout at any instant, and the
temperature of the surrounding medium (air), the proportionality constant being 2.5
BTU/min-0F. If the air temperature remains constant at 70 0F, and if the initial temperature
of the tank and its contents is 350F, find the temperature of the tank at any time.

17. A body falls from rest against a resistance that is proportional to the square of the speed at
any instant. If the limiting speed is 10 ft/sec, find the time required to attain a speed of 8
ft/sec.

18. A 2’ x 2’ block with a specific gravity of 1.2 is put on water gently (v 0 = 0). How much time
will it take to sink to the bottom 10 ft below?

19. An 8-lb body starting from rest is pulled along a surface whose coefficient of sliding friction is
¼ by a force that is equal to twice the distance of the body from the starting point x = 0. Air
resistance is v2/8. Find the velocity as a function of the distance.
20. A body weighing 400 lbs is shot up a 300 incline with an initial velocity of 50 ft/sec. The
coefficient of sliding friction is 1/10. a) Find the position and velocity of the body as a
function of time. B) How long and how far will the body move before coming to rest?

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21. According to Fourier’s Law of Heat Conduction, the amount of heat in BTU/hr flowing
through an area is proportional to the area and the temperature gradient, in degree per unit
length normal to the area. The inner and outer surfaces of a hollow spherical shell are
maintained at the respective temperature T0 and T1`. If the inner and outer radii of the
spherical shell are r0 and r1, find the amount of heat lost per unit time. What is the
temperature distribution through the shell?

22. A steam pipe of radius 3 cm and at 1000C is wrapped with 1-cm layer of insulation of thermal
conductivity 0.0003 cal/cm-deg-sec and that layer is wrapped with 2-cm layer of insulation
of conductivity 0.0002 cal/cm-deg-sec. At what temperature must the outside surface be
maintained in order that 0.0008 cal will flow from each square cm of pipe surface per
second?

23. Calculate the rate of heat transfer from a frustum of a right cone 2 ft in length. The large and
surface of the frustum is 3 ft in diameter and is maintained at 20000F. The smaller end
surfaces of the frustum are insulated. Thermal conductivity of the frustum is given by the
equation
K = 0.1 + 0.01T ; T is in deg F.
Where K is in BTU/hr-ft-0F.

24. A tank whose cross section measured 3’ x 4’ is filled with water to a height of 9 ft. It has hole
at the bottom that has a radius of 1 inch.
a. When will the tank be empty?
b. When will the water in the tank be 5 ft high?

25. A spherical tank , inner diameter is two meters, is filled with water ( density = 1g/cc). If the
tank has a hole 1 cm in diameter at the bottom:
a. When will the tank be half empty?
b. When will the tank be totally empty?