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Examples 1 ST Order

This document provides examples of applications of first order differential equations from various disciplines: Bacterial growth and radioactive decay can be modeled with exponential equations relating the rate of change of population/atoms to the current population/atoms. Newton's law of cooling and simple chemical reactions use differential equations to relate the rate of change of temperature or chemical amounts to their difference from a set point. Disease spread and falling bodies involve equations where the rate of change depends on the current value and what remains. R-L circuits use differential equations to relate voltage, inductance, resistance and current.

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AmrMashhour
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43 views2 pages

Examples 1 ST Order

This document provides examples of applications of first order differential equations from various disciplines: Bacterial growth and radioactive decay can be modeled with exponential equations relating the rate of change of population/atoms to the current population/atoms. Newton's law of cooling and simple chemical reactions use differential equations to relate the rate of change of temperature or chemical amounts to their difference from a set point. Disease spread and falling bodies involve equations where the rate of change depends on the current value and what remains. R-L circuits use differential equations to relate voltage, inductance, resistance and current.

Uploaded by

AmrMashhour
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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First Order Differential Equations Applications

I have provided here a short list of applications of first order ordinary differential equations. This is in no way an exhaustive list. However, you may be
surprised to find something from your area of study here.

Bacterial Growth: If P is the population of the bacteria at time t, and k


is their growth rate, then
dP
kP = 0
dt

Radioactive Decay: If N is the number of radioactive atoms in a sample


at time t and is the decay rate ( is negative), then
dN
= N
dt

Newtons Law of Cooling: If an object is placed in an environment of


tempertature T0 , and T is the temperature of the object at time t, there is a
constant k (depending on the object) for which
dT
= k(T T0 )
dt

Simple Chemical Reactions: In a simple chemical reaction given by


A + B C, if k is a constant related to the reactiveness of the reactants,
a is the initial amount of chemical A, b is the inital amount of chemical B,
and x is the amount of C at time t, then
dx
= k(a x)(b x)
dt

Disease Spread in Isolated Community: If N is the fixed number of


people in an isolated community and x is the number of people with the
1

disease in the community, then there is a constant k, depending on how


contageous the disease is, for which
dx
= kx(N x)
dt

Falling Body With Wind Resistance: If v is the velocity of a free falling


object under the force of gravity, g is the earths gravitational constant, m
is the mass of the object, k is a constant proportional to cross sectional area
of the falling object, then
m

dv
= mg kv
dt

R-L Circuits: If an EMF of V is applied to a circuit of resistance R and


inductance L, then the current I satisfies
V =L

dI
+ RI
dt

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