ChE

240
Assignments and Announcements
Assignment #6
Problems are due by class time on Tuesday, March 9th

Reading: Boyce & DiPrima, Chapter 1, Section 1.1 (but skip all the material on directional fields)
and Section 1.3, i.e. skip Section 1.2. Chapter 2, Section 2.1.
Read the handout on Balance Laws and Classification.

Assignment
As with every assignment, there are problems that you can work right now.

Problems

Do not hand in these problems.
Prob. 1 CLO- 1 Here are a bunch of ODEs from page 24 of B&DiP. Classify each of them according
to
order
linear vs. nonlinear
homogeneous vs. non-homogeneous
constant vs. variable coefficient

Check your answers here:
1. second order, linear, non-homogeneous, variable coefficient
2. second order, nonlinear, non-homogeneous, variable coefficient
3. fourth order, linear, non-homogeneous, constant coefficient
4. first order, nonlinear, homogeneous, variable coefficient
5. second order, nonlinear, non-homogeneous, variable coefficient
6. third order, linear, non-homogeneous, variable coefficient

Prob. 2 CLO – 2
a. Consider flow into a well-stirred tank at constant flow rate Q in m3/sec. The tank has volume
V in m3. There is initially no salt in the tank, and then at time zero the inlet stream
concentration of salt is changed to cin in g/ m3. There are no chemical reactions taking place.
Apply the balance law to find the differential equation governing the concentration of salt in the
tank, c(t), at any time t>0, where time is measured in sec.
Answer: V dc/dt = Q (cin – c(t))

b. Will the differential equation change if Q, V, c, and t are given in gallons/hour, gallons,
pounds/gallon, and hours? Or liters/day, liters, micrograms/liter, and days? Or any other
consistent set of units?
Assignment #6 (cont)

The following problems are to be handed in.

Prob. 3. (10 pts.) CLO-1

Classify each of the ODEs in the handout on “Balance Laws and Classification” according to
order
linear vs. nonlinear
homogeneous vs. non-homogeneous
constant vs. variable coefficient

Prob. 4. (15 points) CLO–3

Consider two tanks in series with constant flow rate through both at a steady flow rate Q. Tank
#1 has volume V1, while tank #2 has a different volume, V2. (See the figure below, which has
slightly different symbols.) As in Prob 2 above, there is initially no salt in the inlet stream until
time t = 0, at which it is changed to cin. Let c1(t) and c2(t) be the concentrations in tanks 1 and 2,
respectively. The balance law for tank #1 doesn’t change (as per problem 7 on the midterm!).

a. (5 points) Find the balance law governing the concentration in the outlet of tank #2. Hint:
The outlet of tank #1 is the inlet for tank #2.

b. (10 points) Solve both equations to predict the concentrations in both tanks as a function of
time. Be sure to apply the initial conditions that there is no salt in either tank at time t = 0.
Important: Be sure to put the equations into “standard form” before applying the general solution
for first order, linear, constant coefficient, non-homogeneous ODEs.