APPLICATION TO PROBLEMS OF GROWTH

AND DECAY
Mathematical Formulation:
For problems in growth and decay, the
time rate of change of a given quantity A is
proportional to A. When transformed to a
mathematical statement, this gives us the
differential equation:

dA
kA
dt
+k

k>0, law of

exponential growth
-k
k<0, law of
exponential decay
Some problems which involve the law of
exponential growth\decay includes:
a. Law of Radioactive Disintegration
b. Population Problems
c. Interest of Money
d. Growth of any self-generating population

At the end of 1000 years:

S1000= So e-0.001026(1000)
S1000= 0.358 So or about 35.8% of the
substance is left
Solving for the half-life (time it takes for 50% of
the substance to disintegrate):
0.50 So =So e-0.001026 t
t = ln 0.5/-0.001026 676 years
APPLICATION TO MIXTURE PROBLEMS
Mathematical Formulation:
If we consider a tank containing some substance
Q. The time rate of change of this substance Q is
equal to the amount of substance coming in per
unit time (inflow) minus the amount of the
substance coming out per unit time (outflow).
Inflow

GROWTH PROBLEM:
If the population of a city doubled in the past 25
years and the present population is 100,000, when
will the city have a population of 500,000?
Solution:
Let P = population at any time t

dP
dP
dP
kP
kdt
kdt
dt
P
P
ln P kt c P e kt c e c e kt
P Ce kt
Imposing the boundary conditions, we can solve
for C and k:
at t=0 (present time), Po=100,000:
100,000=C
at t=-25 (25 years ago), P-25=50,00:
50,000=100,000e-25k
k=ln 2/25 0.02773
Thus, P=100,000 e

0.02773 t

Solving for t when P=500,000:

500,000=100,000 e0.02773 t
t=ln 5/0.02773 58 years from now
DECAY PROBLEM
If 5% of a radioactive substance decomposes in 50
years, what percentage will be present at the end
of 500 years?
1,000 years? What is the half-life of the substance?
Solution:
Let S = amount of substance at any time t
Imposing the boundary conditions, we can solve
for C and k:
at
t=0, S=So (initial amount of
substance):
So=C
at t=50 , S50=0.95 So:
0.95 So =So e50 k
k=ln 0.95/50 -0.001026
Thus, S=So e-0.001026 t
At the end of 500 years:
S500= So e-0.001026(500)
S500= 0.599 So or about 60% of the
substance is left

Outflo
w
In mathematical equation, this gives us the
differential equation,

dQ
Inflow Outflow
dt
If the inflow is expressed in terms of concentration
Ci at a rate ri, assuming that the concentration
inside the tank is kept uniform at any time equal
to C(t) and is allowed to flow out of the tank at a
rate ro, then this equation becomes:

dQ
ri Ci ro C(t )
dt
Example 1:
A 100-gal tank initially contains 25% dye solution.
A 40% dye solution is allowed to enter at a rate of
10 gal/min and the resulting uniform mixture is
removed from the tank at the same rate. Derive an
expression for the amount of dye in the tank as a
function of time.
Solution:
Let D = amount of dye at any time

dD
Inflow Outflow ri C i ro C(t )
dt
gal
gal D

10
0.40 10

min
min 100

dD
D
4
dt
10

ds
dt
d 2 s dv
dv
a 2
v
dt
ds
dt

This differential equation may be written

as linear differential equation in standard
form:

dD D
1

4 where P (t )
dt 10
10
Q( t ) 4 .

and

The formula for the acceleration to be

used depends on the needs of the given
problem.

Solving for (t):

dS
dS
dS
kS
kdt
kdt
dt
S
S
ln S kt c S e kt c e c e kt

Example:
The acceleration (in m/s2) of the particle at
any time t is defined by the formula a(t) = 6t
+6. If the particle starts from rest at the
origin, find the velocity and the position of the
particle after 5 seconds.

S Ce kt

(t ) e

P ( t )dt

10 dt

e 10

Therefore:

D(t )
t

De 10

b.

(t )Q(t )dt c
t

Newtons Second Law of Motion may be stated in

the following manner:

The time rate of change in momentum of a body

is proportional to the net force acting on the body
and has the same direction as the force.

4e 10 dt c

De 10 40e 10 c
D 40 ce

Problems in Kinetics Newtons

Second Law of Motion

t
10

Example 2:

A 250-L capacity tank initially

contains a 150-L mixture of water and 25
lbs. of durian extract. A durian solution
that has 2 lb./L concentration of is
allowed to enter the tank at a rate of 10
L/min. In the resulting uniform mixture is
removed from the tank a rate of 5 L/min,
determine the amount of durian (in lbs.)
at the time of overflow.
At the time when overflow starts
to occur, inflow rate is reduced to 2 L/min
and the concentration of 2 lb/L is
maintained. Also the outflow rate is
lowered to make the volume inside the
tank to be fixed at full capacity without
spillage (due to overflow). Derive an
expression for the amount of durian
extract (in lbs.) as a function of time. Let
t = 0 be the time when overflow starts to
take place.

This

statement

maybe

F ma m

a.

Problems in Motion

Problems involving motion of a certain

particle
is
frequently
encountered
in
mechanics. If we let s be position vector of a
particle at any time, v as the velocity vector
and a as the acceleration vector of a particle,
then the three vectors are related in the
following manner:

to

dv
d 2s
dv
m 2 mv
dt
dt
ds

mathematical equation:

Mechanics Problem
A 0.5-kg block is initially at rest at x=0
when a force P is applied at an angle of 60 O
as shown. P is non-uniform and is applied
such that its magnitude increases as the
displacement along x increases. The
relationship between the force P and x is
given by P = 4x + 8. Also, the horizontal
surface offers a constant friction of 2
Newtons. Determine the particular solution
x(t).
P
60O

APPLICATION TO MECHANICS

transformed