APPLICATIONS

Newton’s Law of Cooling/Heating

According to Newton, The rate of cooling or heating of an
object is proportional to the temperature difference
between the surrounding and the object.
If 𝑦 is the temperature of the object at time 𝑡 from the
start of the process, and 𝐶 is the constant temperature of
the surrounding, then Newton’s law written in differential
equation form is:
𝑑𝑦
= 𝑘(𝐶 − 𝑦)
𝑑𝑡
As an exercise, solve this by separation of variables. The
 −𝑘𝑡
general solution is 𝑦 = 𝐶 + 𝑎𝑒 . Assume that at the start
of heating or cooling, the temperature of the body is 𝑦0 .
Then 𝑦0 = 𝐶 + 𝑎, and this gives 𝑎 = 𝑦0 − 𝐶. Hence, the
equation of cooling or heating is 𝑦 = 𝐶 + 𝑦0 − 𝐶 𝑒 −𝑘𝑡 , or
−𝑘𝑡 or −𝑘𝑡
𝑦 = 𝐶 + 𝑦0 − 𝐶 𝑒 𝑦 = 𝐶 − 𝐶 − 𝑦0 𝑒
Example. As part of his summer job at a restaurant, Jim
learned to cook up a big pot of soup late at night, just
before closing time, so that there would be plenty of soup
to feed customers the next day. He also found out that,
while refrigeration was essential to preserve the soup
overnight, the soup was too hot to be put directly into the
fridge when it was ready. (The soup had just boiled at 100
degrees C, and the fridge was not powerful enough to
accommodate a big pot of soup if it was any warmer than
20 degrees C). Jim discovered that by cooling the pot in a
sink full of cold water, (kept running, so that its
temperature was roughly constant at 5 degrees C) and
stirring occasionally, he could bring the temperature of the
soup to 60 degrees C in ten minutes. How long before
closing time should the soup be ready so that Jim could put
it in the fridge and leave on time ?
Solution. Based on the statement of the problem, we have
𝑦0 = 100 and 𝐶 = 5. We are also given the information
that at 𝑡 = 10, 𝑦 = 60. Therefore,
−10𝑘
60 = 5 − 5 − 100 𝑒
Solving this for 𝑘, we get 𝑘 = 0.0546544. Therefore,
−0.0546544𝑡
𝑦 = 5 − 5 − 100 𝑒
Before Jim can put the pot of soup in the refrigerator, the
temperature of the soup should be 20 degrees centigrade
according to the information given in the problem.
Therefore we solve the equation 20 = 5 − (5 −
Exercise. Suppose that a corpse was discovered in a motel
room at midnight and its temperature was 80𝑜 𝐹. The
temperature of the room is kept constant at 60𝑜 𝐹. Two
𝑜
hours later the temperature of the corpse dropped to 75 𝐹.
Find the time of death. Answer: 7: 26 PM. Hint: The normal
body temperature (living person) is 37𝑜 𝐶. Converting this to
Fahrenheit, it is 98𝑜 𝐹.
Exercise. John stays in his hotel room which is air-
conditioned and the room temperature is kept constant at
20°𝐶. He ordered coffee by phone and the coffee delivered
to him at 7:00 PM is at a temperature of 85°𝐶. He prefers
to take coffee with a temperature of 78°𝐶 and so he waited
for the coffee to drop its temperature. After 10 minutes he
found that the temperature of the coffee is 81°𝐶 . At what
time can John drink his coffee at his preferred temperature?
Exercise. Jacob took out of his refrigerator a bowl of pre-
cooked oatmeal and the temperature of the oatmeal is 5°𝐶.
He dipped the container of the oatmeal in a basin of hot
water maintained at a constant temperature of 90°𝐶 . The
oatmeal is constantly stirred to even up its temperature.
After 15 minutes, Jacob measured the temperature of the
oatmeal to be 20°𝐶. How many more minutes should
Jacob wait if he wants to eat the oatmeal with a
temperature of 40°𝐶?
Exercise. Hot soup with an initial temperature of 100°𝐶 is
cooled by dipping its container in a basin of cold water
maintained at 10°𝐶. After 20 minutes the temperature of
the soup becomes 90°𝐶. To hasten the cooling process,
ice was added to the cooling water to lower its
temperature to 5°𝐶. Assuming that this new temperature
is maintained constant, how many more minutes are
needed to bring down the temperature of the soup to
70°𝐶?