Solutions to Exercises on Newtons Law of Cooling

S. F. Ellermeyer
1. A thermometer is taken from a room that is 20

C to the outdoors where

the temperature is 5

C. After one minute, the thermometer reads 12

C.
Use Newtons Law of Cooling to answer the following questions.
(a) What will the reading on the thermometer be after one more
minute?
(b) When will the thermometer read 6

C?
Solution: If T is the thermometer temperature, then Newtons Law of
Cooling tells us that
dT
dt
= k (5 T)
T (0) = 20.
The solution of this initial value problem is
T = 5 + 15e
kt
.
We still need to nd the value of k. We can do this by using the given
information that T (1) = 12. In fact, let us pause here to consider the
general problem of nding the value of k. We will obtain some facts that
can be used in the rest of the problems involving Newtons Law of Cooling.
Suppose that we have the model
dT
dt
= k (T
s
T)
T (0) = T
0
T (t
1
) = T
1
where t
1
is some time other than 0. Then, from the rst two equations in
the model, we obtain
T = T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
) e
kt
and from the third equation we obtain
T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
) e
kt
1
= T
1
.
1
Thus
(T
0
T
s
) e
kt
1
= T
1
T
s
which gives us
e
kt
1
=
T
1
T
s
T
0
T
s
or
e
kt
1
=
T
0
T
s
T
1
T
s
or
k =
1
t
1
ln

T
0
T
s
T
1
T
s

.
The latter equation gives us the value of k. However, note that, in most
problems that we deal with, it is not really necessary to nd the value of k.
Since the term e
kt
that appears in the solution of Newtons Law of Cooling
can be written as
e
kt
=

e
kt
1

t=t
1
,
we really just need (in most situations) to know the value of e
kt
1
, and this
value has been obtained in the work done above. In particular, the solution
of Newtons Law of Cooling,
T = T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
) e
kt
,
can be written as
T = T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
)

e
kt
1

t=t
1
or as
T = T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
)

T
1
T
s
T
0
T
s

t=t
1
.
Returning now to the problem at hand (with the thermometer), we see that
the temperature function for the thermometer is
T = 5 + 15

7
15

t
.
Note that this makes sense because this formula gives us
T (0) = 5 + 15

7
15

0
= 20
2
and
T (1) = 5 + 15

7
15

1
= 12.
To nd what the thermometer will read two minutes after being taken out-
side, we compute
T (2) = 5 + 15

7
15

2
8:3
which tells us that the thermometer will read about 8:3

C two minutes after

being taken outside.
Finally, to determine when the thermometer will read 6

C, we solve the
equation
5 + 15

7
15

t
= 6.
The stepbystep solution of this equation is
15

7
15

t
= 1

7
15

t
=
1
15
ln

7
15

t
!
= ln

1
15

t ln

7
15

= ln

1
15

t =
ln (1=15)
ln (7=15)
3:5.
Thus, the thermometer will reach 6

C after being outside for about 3:5

minutes.
Let us remember, in solving the upcoming problems, that the solution of
the problem
dT
dt
= k (T
s
T)
T (0) = T
0
T (t
1
) = T
1
3
(which type of problem is called a boundary value problem because we are
given prescribed values of a dierential equation at two points) can be written
as
T = T
s
+ (T
0
T
s
)

T
1
T
s
T
0
T
s

t=t
1
.
2. At midnight, with the temperature inside your house at 70

F and the
temperature outside at 20

F, your furnace breaks down. Two hours

later, the temperature in your house has fallen to 50

F. Assume that
the outside temperature remains constant at 20

F. At what time will

the inside temperature of your house reach 40

F?
Solution: The boundary value problem that models this situation is
dT
dt
= k (20 T)
T (0) = 70
T (2) = 50
where time 0 is midnight. The solution of this boundary value problem (from
the work done in problem 1 above) is
T = 20 + 50

3
5

t=2
.
Note (for the purpose of a reasonableness check) that this formula gives us
T (0) = 20 + 50

3
5

0=2
= 70
and
T (2) = 20 + 50

3
5

2=2
= 50.
To nd when the temperature in the house will reach 40

F, we must solve
the equation
20 + 50

3
5

t=2
= 40.
The solution of this equation is
t = 2

ln (2=5)
ln (3=5)

3:6.
Thus, the temperature in the house will reach 40

F a little after 3:30 a.m.

4
3. You can nd the temperature inside your refrigerator without putting
a thermometer inside. Take a can of soda from the refrigerator, let
it warm for half an hour, then record its temperature. Let it warm
for another half an hour and record its temperature again. Suppose
that the readings are T (1=2) = 45

F and T (1) = 55

F. Assuming
that the room temperature is 70

F, what is the temperature inside the

refrigerator?
Solution: Taking the time one half hour after the soda was removed from
the refrigerator to be the zero time (and stating the given information in
an appropriate way), we have the boundary value problem
dT
dt
= k (70 T)
T (0) = 45
T (1=2) = 55
and we know that the solution of this boundary value problem is
T = 70 25

3
5

2t
.
To check this formula for reasonableness, we observe that the formula gives
us
T (0) = 70 25

3
5

2(0)
= 45
and
T

1
2

= 70 25

3
5

2(
1
2
)
= 55.
The temperature of the refrigerator is the temperature of the can of soda at
time t = 1=2, so we see that the temperature of the refrigerator is
T

1
2

= 70 25

3
5

2(
1
2
)
= 70 25

5
3

28:3

F.
5
4. In a murder investigation, a corpse was found by a detective at exactly
8 P.M. Being alert, the detective also measured the body temperature
and found it to be 70

F. Two hours later, the detective measured

the body temperature again and found it to be 60

F. If the room
temperature is 50

F, and assuming that the body temperature of the

person before death was 98:6

F, at what time did the murder occur?

Solution: With time 0 taken to be 8 P.M., we have the boundary value
problem
dT
dt
= k (50 T)
T (0) = 70
T (2) = 60
whose solution is
T = 50 + 20

1
2

t=2
.
We would like to nd the value of t for which T (t) = 98:6. Solving the
equation
50 + 20

1
2

t=2
= 98:6
gives us
t = 2

ln (48:6=20)
ln (1=2)

2:56.
It appears that this person was murdered at about 5:30 P.M. or so.
Here is a graph of the function
T = 50 + 20

1
2

t=2
over the time interval 2:56 t 2:56.
6
60
70
80
90
body temperature
-2 -1 0 1 2
time in hours
5. John and Maria are having dinner and each orders a cup of coee. John
cools his coee with three tablespoons of cream. They wait ten minutes
and then Maria cools her coee with three tablespoons of cream. The
two then begin to drink. Who drinks the hotter coee? (Assume that
adding three tablespoons of cream to coee immediately cools the coee
by 10

F.)
Solution: Let t
0
be the time that John adds cream and let t
1
be the time
(ten minutes after t
0
) that Maria adds cream.
At time t
0
, Johns coee is 10

F cooler than Marias coee. During the

ten minute time interval from time t
0
to time t
1
, both Johns and Marias
coees are cooling (getting closer to room temperature). However, during this
ten second time interval, Johns coee is cooling more slowly than Marias
coee, and Marias coee is always warmer than Johns coee. At time t
1
,
there must be less than 10

F dierence between the coee temperatures.

Thus, when Maria adds cream, it drops her coees temperature below that
of Johns coee temperature, so John drinks the warmer coee.
7