Toricellis Law.

Suppose that a water tank has a hole with area a at its bottom and that water is draining from the hole. Let y(t) (in feet) and V ( t ) (in cubic feet) denote the depth and the volume of water in the tank at time t (in seconds). Then (under ideal conditions) the velocity of the stream of water exiting the tank will be v= and so dV = a 2 gy dt If A(y) is the cross-sectional area of the tank at depth y, then this equation takes the form A( y ) dy = a 2 gy dt 2 gy ( g 32 ft / s2 )

Note. If, as indicated above, we take g 32 ft / s2 then the equation becomes A( y ) dy = 8a y dt

#27, p419 A tank shaped like a vertical cylinder contains water to a depth of 9 ft (see figure). A bottom plug is pulled at time t = 0. After 1 h the depth has dropped to 4 ft. How long will it take for all of the water to drain from the tank? Solution. In this problem the cross-sectional area of the tank is constant

A( y ) = r 2
and Toricellis equation becomes

( r 2 )

dy = 8a y dt

This is a separable differential equation, which can be solved by first separating the variables

( r 2 )

dy = 8 adt y

and then integrating both sides independently:

( r 2 )

dy = 8a dt y

( r 2 )2 y = 8 at + C
Note. Since in this problem we are only concerned with the value of t corresponding to y = 0 (the time when the tank is empty), there is little to be gained by writing the solution in explicit form.

y= 0

8a + C = 0 t =

C 8a

What we need are the values of the constants C and 8a, and this information is obtained by fitting the solution

2 r 2 y = 8at + C
to the conditions of the problem. 2 t = 0, y = 9 2 r 2 9 = 0 + C C = 6r

2 r 2 y = 8at + 6r 2
2 To maintain consistency of units (since g 32 ft / s ) we should use time measured in seconds rather than hours. Thus the second condition should be entered as follows. 2 2 t = 3600 s , y = 4 2 r 4 = 8a( 3600) + 6r 8a(3600) = 2r 2 r 2 8a = 1800 Finally, as indicated previously, the tank will be empty ( y

= 0) when

t=

C 2 1800 = (6r )( 2 ) = 6(1800) = 10, 800 s 8a r

(or

t = 3h )