Differential Equation Applications

1. Newtons Law of Cooling

Newton's Law of Cooling is used to model the temperature change of an object of some
temperature placed in an environment of a different temperature. The law states that

Where T is the temperature of the object at time t, R is the temperature of the surrounding
environment (constant) and k is a constant of proportionality. What this law says is that the rate of
change of temperature is proportional to the difference between the temperature of the object and
that of the surrounding environment.
In order to get the previous equation to something that we can use, we must solve the differential
equation. The steps are given below.
1. Separate the variables. Get all the T's on one side and all the t's on the other side. The
constants can be on either side.

2. Anti-differentiate both sides.

3. Leave in the previous form or solve for T.

We now have a useful equation. When you are working with Newton's Law of Cooling,
remember that t is the variable. The other letters, R, k, C, are all constants. In order to find the
temperature of the object at a given time, all of the constants must first have numerical values.

Examples:

1. A cup of coffee (temperature = 190F) is placed in a room whose temperature is 70F. After five
minutes, the temperature of the coffee has dropped to 160F. How many more minutes must elapse
before the temperature of the coffee is 130F?
Assuming that the coffee obeys Newton's Law of Cooling, its temperature T as a function of time is
given by equation (*) with T s = 70:

Because T(0) = 190, the value of the constant of integration ( c) can be evaluated:

Furthermore, since information about the cooling rate is provided ( T = 160 at time t = 5 minutes), the
cooling constant k can be determined:

Therefore, the temperature of the coffee t minutes after it is placed in the room is

Now, setting T = 130 and solving for t yields

This is the total amount of time after the coffee is initially placed in the room for its temperature to
drop to 130F. Therefore, after waiting five minutes for the coffee to cool from 190F to 160F, it is
necessary to then wait an additional seven minutes for it to cool down to 130F.

2. A pot of liquid is put on the stove to boil. The temperature of the liquid reaches 170oF and
then the pot is taken off the burner and placed on a counter in the kitchen. The temperature of the

air in the kitchen is 76oF. After two minutes the temperature of the liquid in the pot is 123oF.
How long before the temperature of the liquid in the pot will be 84oF?

2. Population Growth
The differential equation describing exponential growth is

This can be integrated directly

To give

Where

. Exponentiation,

This equation is called the law of growth and, in a much more antiquated fashion, the Malthusian
equation; the quantity in this equation is sometimes known as the Malthusian parameter.
Consider a more complicated growth law

Where

is a constant. This can also be integrated directly

Note that this expression blows up at

so
.

. We are given the initial condition that

The in the denominator of () greatly suppresses the growth in the long run compared to the
simple growth law.

The (continuous) logistic equation, defined by

Is another growth law which frequently arises in biology It has solution

Examples
1. The population of a country is growing at a rate that is proportional to the
population of the country. The population in 1990 was 20 million and in 2000
the population was 22 million. Estimate the population in 2020.

3. Radioactive Decay

Nuclei consist of neutrons and protons bound together. But protons are positively charged and
hence repel one another. Thus large nuclei consist mostly of neutrons and some, having large
numbers of protons, are quite unstable.
Some of them, from time to time, give off some energy and an electron or helium nucleus, and
change themselves into some other nucleus. Each of these changes is described by what is called
a "half life"; which is the time it takes for half of the nuclei of the given kind to decay.
We model this by the assertion that in a population of nuclei of a given radioactive isotope, in any
small finite time interval,
, a certain proportion,
, of them will decay.
If the population of these nuclei is represented as the function p, then p(t) will obey

which corresponds to the differential equation

This is a differential equation whose solution we know, because it states that the function p is a
constant multiple of itself.
This is precisely the property of p(0) * exp(-ct), which is its solution.
In the case of an isotope that only undergoes a single decay, this is the whole story. The only
question to raise is, what is the relation between the constant c here and the "half-life" of this
decay?
Recall that the half-life of the process is the length of time needed for the population to diminish
to half its original size. The half-life, T, of this process then obeys

Upon dividing by p(0) and taking logarithms of both sides we obtain

A more interesting situation occurs when the decay product in the decay of the isotope you start
with is itself radioactive, and decays itself with its own half life.

We can model this situation by defining p0(t) as the population of the original isotope, p1(t) the
population of its decay product, and p2(t) as the population of the decay product of the decay
product.
Then we have the same model as before for p0(t):

In the previous case, the population of the decay product was p(0) minus p(t). Now we must write
a differential equation for it:

Here the first term represents the increase in population of the first decay product coming from
decay of the original isotope, while the second term represents the effect of its own decay. (The
decay constants associated with these two decays are here c 1 and c2).
We do not need an additional equation for p2, though we could write one with the same approach,,
because the sum, p0(t) + p1(t) + p2(t), will be p0(0), and we can deduce p2(t) once we have
calculated the others, assuming that we started with a pure sample of the starting isotope, at least
approximately.
Thus, in this case we have two dependent variables, p 1 and p2, and two differential equations to
solve.
We are studying modeling in this section so will not solve these equations in detail. However they
present little difficulty. The equation for p0(t) can be solved exactly as the one for p(t) in the first
case, with the same solution. This solution can be substituted for p 0 in the second equation, and it
is straightforward to solve the resulting equation. We will solve this equation when we study such
things later on.
Please notice that these models only make sense when the initial population is quite large, since
the only possible changes in population here are integers. In other words, a given nucleus either
decays or doesn't, so at any time the number in each population is an integer. Thus, if we make dp
smaller than 1, we leave the realm in which the model makes sense, and enter an artificial
mathematical domain. Thus, keeping dp finite, as we do in numerical calculations, rather than
letting it go to 0, as we do in formal differentiation is more compatible with the model.
Fortunately, we get essentially the same answer using finite or "infinitesimal" differences, in
problems of this kind.

Examples
Fragment of bone is discovered to contain 20% of the usual
Estimate the age of the bone.

C concentration.

14

The relative amount of 14C in the bone has decreased to 20% of its original value
(that is, the value when the animal was alive). Thus, the problem is to calculate
the value of t at which x( t) = 0.20 x o (where x = the amount of 14C present).
Since

the exponential decay equation (*) says

4.

Falling Object
An object is dropped from a height at time t = 0. If h(t) is the height of the object at time t, a(t) the
acceleration and v(t) the velocity. The relationships between a, v and h are as follows:
a(t) = dv / dt , v(t) = dh / dt.
For a falling object, a(t) is constant and is equal to g = -9.8 m/s.
Combining the above differential equations, we can easily deduce the follwoing equation
d 2h / dt 2 = g
Integrate both sides of the above equation to obtain
dh / dt = g t + v0
Integrate one more time to obtain
h(t) = (1/2) g t2 + v0 t + h0
The above equation describes the height of a falling object, from an initial height h 0 at an initial
velocity v0, as a function of time.

5. RL Circuit

Let us consider the RL (resistor R and inductor L) circuit shown above. At t = 0 the switch is
closed and current passes through the circuit. Electricity laws state that the voltage across a
resistor of resistance R is equal to R i and the voltage across an inductor L is given by L di/dt (i is
the current). Another law gives an equation relating all voltages in the above circuit as follows:
L di/dt + Ri = E,
where E is a constant voltage.
Let us solve the above differential equation which may be written as follows
L [ di / dt ] / [E - R i] = 1
which may be written as
- (L / R) [ - R d i ] / [E - Ri] = dt

Integrate both sides

- (L / R) ln(E - R i) = t + c , c constant of integration.
Find constant c by setting i = 0 at t = 0 (when switch is closed) which gives
c = (-L / R) ln(E)
Substitute c in the solution
- (L / R) ln(E - R i) = t + (-L/R) ln (E)
which may be written
(L/R) ln (E)- (L / R) ln(E - R i) = t
ln[E/(E - Ri)] = t(R/L)
Change into exponential form
[E/(E - Ri)] = et(R/L)
Solve for i to obtain
i = (E/R) (1-e-Rt/L)
The starting model for the circuit is a differential equation which when solved, gives an
expression of the current in the circuit as a function of time.