1

Modelling with First Order Differential Equations

GROWTH AND DECAY:

The rate of growth of certain populations (bacteria, small animals) over

short periods of time is proportional to the population present at time t .
The initial-value problem:

dx
 kx, x(t 0 )  x 0
dt

The decomposition, or decay, of U-238 (uranium) by radioactivity into

Th-234 (thorium) is a first-order reaction.

Example (1): Bacterial Growth

A culture initially has P0 number of bacteria. At t  1 hr the number of

3
bacteria is measured to be P . If the rate of growth is proportional to
2 0
the number of bacteria P(t) present at time t , determine the time
necessary for the number of bacteria to triple.

Solution:

At t0  0 , P(0)  P0

3
P(1)  P
2 0

Notice that the differential equation dP dt  kP is both separable and

linear.

The standard form of a linear first-order DE,

dP
 kP  0
dt

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 k dt
Integration factor = e 
k t
e

d k t k t
 [e P]  0 
integration
e P  c
dt
kt
 P(t)  ce .

kt
At t  0 , P0  ce0  c  P(t)  P0 e

3 kt 3
At t  1, P0  P0e  ek 
2 2

3
 k  ln  0.4055
2

 P(t)  P0 e0.4055 t

To find the time at which the number of bacteria has tripled,

ln 3
3P0  P0 e0.4055 t  3  e0.4055 t  t   2.7 h
0.4055

P
4

time
0 1 2 3 4

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HALF-LIFE:

In physics the half-life is a measure of the stability of a radioactive

substance. The half-life is simply the time it takes for one-half of the atoms
in an initial amount A0 to disintegrate, or transmute, into the atoms of
another element. The longer the half-life of a substance, the more stable
it is. For example, the half-life of highly radioactive radium, Ra-226, is
about 1700 years. In 1700 years one-half of a given quantity of Ra-226
is transmuted into radon, Rn-222. The most commonly occurring
uranium isotope, U-238, has a half-life of approximately 4,500,000,000
years. In about 4.5 billion years, one-half of a quantity of U-238 is
transmuted into lead, Pb-206.

EXAMPLE (2): Half-Life of Plutonium

A breeder reactor converts relatively stable uranium 238 into the isotope
plutonium 239. After 15 years it is determined that 0.043% of the initial
amount A0 of plutonium has disintegrated. Find the half-life of this isotope
if the rate of disintegration is proportional to the amount remaining.

Solution:

dA
 k A, A( 0 )  A0
dt
kt
A( t )  A0 e

If 0.043% of the atoms of A0 have disintegrated, then 99.957% of the

substance remains. To find the decay constant k, we use
0.99957 A0  A( 15 ) , that is

0.99957A0  A0 e 15 k

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1
k  ln 0.99957  0.00002867
15

 A( t )  A0 e 0.00002867t

Now the half-life is the corresponding value of time at which:

1
A( t )  A
2 0

1 ln 2
A0  A0 e 0.00002867t  t   24, 180 yr.
2 0.00002867

CARBON DATING

About 1950 the chemist Willard Libby devised a

method of using radioactive carbon as a means of
determining the approximate ages of fossils. The
theory of carbon dating is based on the fact that
the isotope carbon 14 is produced in the
atmosphere by the action of cosmic radiation on
nitrogen. The ratio of the amount of C-14 to
ordinary carbon in the atmosphere appears to be
a constant, and consequently the proportionate
amount of the isotope present in all living organisms is the same as that
in the atmosphere. When an organism dies, the absorption of C-14, by
either breathing or eating, ceases. Thus by comparing the proportionate
amount of C-14 present, say, in a fossil with the constant ratio found in
the atmosphere, it is possible to obtain a reasonable estimation of the fossil’s
age. The method is based on the knowledge that the half-life of radioactive
C-14 is approximately 5600 years. For his work Libby won the Nobel Prize
for chemistry in 1960. Libby’s method has been used to date wooden
furniture in Egyptian tombs, the woven flax wrappings of the Dead Sea
scrolls, and the cloth of the enigmatic shroud of Turin.

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C 
14
6
N  e  e
14
7

Example (3): Age of Fossil

A fossilized bone is found to contain one-thousandth of the C-14 level

found in living matter. Estimate the age of the fossil

Solution:

dA 1
 k A, A( 5600 )  A
dt 2 0
kt
 A( t )  A0 e

1 ln( 1 2 )
A0  A0e 5600 k  k   0.00012378
2 5600
0.00012378 t
 A( t )  A0 e

A( t )  1000 A0

0.00012378 t
1000 A0  A0e

ln 1000
t   55 , 800 yr.
0.00012378

NEWTON’S LAW OF COOLING/WARMING:

Newton’s empirical law of cooling/warming of an object is given by the

linear first-order differential equation:

dT
 k (T  T m )
dt

where:

k  Constant proportionality.

T ( t )  Temperature of object for t  0

T m  Ambient Temperature.

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EXAMPLE (4): Cooling of a Cake

When a cake is removed from an oven, its temperature is measured at

300° F. Three minutes later its temperature is 200° F. How long will it
take for the cake to cool off to a room temperature of 70° F?

Solution:

T m  70

dT
The initial value problem:  k (T  70m ) , T( 0 )  300
dt

T ( 3)  200

dT
 k dt
T  70

 ln (T  70 )  k t  c1

kt
 T  70  c2e

c2  e
c1
Where

 300  70  c2  c2  230

kt
 T  70  230e

13 1 13
e 3k  or k  ln  0.19018
23 3 23
0.19018 t
 T ( t )  70  230 e

No finite solution to T ( t )  70 , since limT ( t )  70 .

t 

Yet we intuitively expect the cake to reach room temperature after a

reasonably long period of time. We should not be disturbed by the fact that
this model does not quite live up to our physical intuition. The following
figure and table clearly show that the cake will be approximately at room
temperature in about one-half hour.

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Time Temp.
0 300.00 10.5 101.22 21 74.24 31.5 70.58
0.5 279.14 11 98.39 21.5 73.85 32 70.52
1 260.17 11.5 95.82 22 73.50 32.5 70.48
1.5 242.92 12 93.47 22.5 73.19 33 70.43
2 227.23 12.5 91.35 23 72.90 33.5 70.39
2.5 212.97 13 89.41 23.5 72.63 34 70.36
3 200.00 13.5 87.65 24 72.40 34.5 70.33
3.5 188.21 14 86.05 24.5 72.18 35 70.30
4 177.49 14.5 84.59 25 71.98 35.5 70.27
4.5 167.74 15 83.27 25.5 71.80 36 70.24
5 158.87 15.5 82.06 26 71.64 36.5 70.22
5.5 150.81 16 80.97 26.5 71.49 37 70.20
6 143.48 16.5 79.98 27 71.35 37.5 70.18
6.5 136.81 17 79.07 27.5 71.23 38 70.17
7 130.75 17.5 78.25 28 71.12 38.5 70.15
7.5 125.24 18 77.50 28.5 71.02 39 70.14
8 120.23 18.5 76.82 29 70.93 39.5 70.13
8.5 115.67 19 76.20 29.5 70.84 40 70.11
9 111.53 19.5 75.64 30 70.77 40.5 70.10
9.5 107.76 20 75.13 30.5 70.70 41 70.09
10 104.34 20.5 74.66 31 70.63 41.5 70.09

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MIXTURES:

If A(t) denotes the amount of salt (measured in pounds) in the tank at

time t, then the rate at which A(t) changes is a net rate:

dA
 (input rate of salt) - (output rate of salt)  Rin  Rout
dt

EXAMPLE (5): Mixture of Two Salt Solutions

The large tank held 300 gallons of a brine solution. Salt was entering and
leaving the tank; a brine solution was being pumped into the tank at the
rate of 3 gal/min; it mixed with the solution there, and then the mixture
was pumped out at the rate of 3 gal/min. The concentration of the salt in
the inflow, or solution entering, was 2 lb/gal, so salt was entering the tank
at the rate Rin  (2 lb / gal)  (3gal / min)  6lb/min and leaving the tank

A A
at the rate Rout  ( lb / gal)  (3gal / min)  lb/min . If 50 pounds
300 100
of salt were dissolved initially in the 300 gallons, how much salt is in the
tank after a long time?

Solution:

dA 1
 A6 , A(0)  50
dt 100
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1 t
 100 dt
 e  e 100

d  t  t t t

 e 100
A  6 e 100
 e 100
A  600 e 100
c
dt  
 
t

 A(t)  600  ce 100

A(0)  50  c  550

t

 A(t)  600  550 e 100

t   A(t)  600 pounds

SERIES CIRCUITS:

For a series circuit containing only a resistor and an inductor, Kirchhoff’s

second law states that the sum of the voltage drop across the inductor
(L(di / dt)) and the voltage drop across the resistor (iR) is the same as
the impressed voltage (E(t)) on the circuit. ( See Fig. (1).)

Figure (1): LR series circuit

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Thus we obtain the linear differential equation for the current i(t) ,

di
L  R i  E (t )
dt

where L and R are constants known as the inductance and the

resistance, respectively. The current i(t) is also called the response of the
system.

The voltage drop across a capacitor with capacitance C is given by q (t ) C

where q is the charge on the capacitor. Hence, for the series circuit shown
in Figure (2), Kirchhoff’s second law gives:

1
Ri  q  E (t ) ()
C

But current i and charge q are related by i  dq dt , so Eq. () becomes

the linear differential equation:

dq 1
R  q  E (t )
dt C

Figure (2): RC series circuit

EXAMPLE (6): Series Circuit

A 12-volt battery is connected to a series circuit in which the inductance

is 0.5 henry and the resistance is 10 ohms. Determine the current i if
the initial current is zero.

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Solution:

1 di
 10i  12 , i (0)  0
2 dt
20 dt
Integration factor = e   e 20t

d  20t  24 20t

e i   24 e 20t integral
  e 20t i  e c
dt 20

 i (t )  1.2  c e 20t  c  1.2

20 t
 i (t )  1.2(1  e )

FALLING BODY PROBLEMS:

Newton’s second law of motion: The net force acting on a body is equal to
the time rate of change of the momentum of the body; or, for constant
mass,

dv
F m
dt

where F is the net force on the body and v is the velocity of the body,
both at time t .

dv
mg  k v  m
dt

dv k
or  v  g …………….()
dt m

If air resistance is negligible or nonexistent, then k  0 and  simplifies

to:

dv
 g
dt

When k > 0, the limiting velocity v l is defined by:

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mg
vl 
k

Homework

1) The population of a town grows at a rate proportional to the

population present at time t. The initial population of 500 increases
by 15% in 10 years. What will be the population in 30 years? How
fast is the population growing at t  30 ? (Ans. 760 persons, 10.62
persons/year).

2) Initially 100 milligrams of a radioactive substance was present. After

6 hours the mass had decreased by 3%. If the rate of decay is
proportional to the amount of the substance present at time t, find
the amount remaining after 24 hours. (Ans. 88.53 milligrams)

3) A seashell contains 90% as much C-14 as a living shell of the same

size. How old is it? (Ans. t=851 years)

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4) If 20% of a radioactive substance disappears in 70 days, what is its

half-life? (Ans. t=217.4 days)

5) Two large containers A and B of the same size are filled with different
fluids. The fluids in containers A and B are maintained at 0° C and
100° C, respectively. A small metal bar, whose initial temperature is
100° C, is lowered into container A. After 1 minute the temperature
of the bar is 90° C. After 2 minutes the bar is removed and instantly
transferred to the other container. After 1 minute in container B the
temperature of the bar rises 10°. How long, measured from the start
of the entire process, will it take the bar to reach 99.9° C? (Ans. 9.02
minutes)

6) A 100-volt electromotive force is applied to an RC series circuit in

which the resistance is 200 ohms and the capacitance is 104 farad.
Find the charge q (t ) on the capacitor if q (0)  0 . Find the current
1 50t
i (t ) . (Ans. q  1 100  ce 50t , i  e )
2

7) An electromotive force

120,
 0  t  20 

E (t )   


0, t  20 

is applied to an LR series circuit in which the inductance is 20 henries

and the resistance is 2 ohms. Find the current i (t ) if i (0)  0 .

 60  60e t 10 , 0  t  20 
(Ans. i (t )   t 10 
60(e  1)e , t 0
2


Copyright Dr. Saad Essa