A mothball loses mass by evaporation at a rate proportional to its instantaneous surface

area. If half the mass is lost in 100 days, how long will it be before the radius has
decreased to one-half its initial value? How long before the mothball disappears
completely?

Solution

Assumption: Mass equals to volume, i.e. M V .

Solution.
Since the surface area of a sphere of radius r is 4 r 2 , the first sentence says that
dV 4 dV
k 4 r 2 . Since the volume of a sphere is r 3 , I can compute by
dt 3 dr
dV dV dV dr dr
differentiation: 4 r 2 . The chain rule says that 4 r 2 , so I have
dr dt dr dt dt
dV dV dV dr dr
k 4 r 2 and 4 r 2 .
dt dt dr dt dt

Therefore

dr dr
k 4 r 2 4 r 2 so k .
dt dt
This is an easy equation to solve: r kt c .

From the initial condition (at t=0), r (0) R , I get c R .

V 3V
From the condition, volume at (t=100) equals to , therefore r (100) 3 , I get
2 8
3V 3 4 R 3
R3 R3
c r (t ) R r (100) 8 8 3 R R/3 2 .
k
t 100 100 100 100

R
Thus the radius will be decreased to be when
2
cr 100
t ( R ( R / 2)) 242.37 243 days
k ( R ( R / 3 2 ))

The mothball will be disappeared at

c R 100
t 484.73 485 days
k ( R ( R / 3 2 ))