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InitialValueProblemsforGrowthandDecay
UBCCalculusOnlineCourseNotes

Otherdifferentialequations
Wehaveexaminedthebehaviouroftwosimpledifferentialequationssofar,oneforpopulationgrowth,
andonefortheradioactivedecayofasubstance.Themethodswehavedevelopedareactuallyuseful
formanyotherinterestingproblems,andcanhelpustomakepredictionsaboutothersystemsthat,at
firstsight,donotseematallrelated.Wewillfindthatthecommonthreadinallthesesystemsisthe
simpledifferentialequationoftheform

Thisequationisofinterestforeitherpositiveornegativevaluesoftheconstant .Infact,inthe
examplesstudiedsofar,welookedatonecaseinwhich ,andanothercaseinwhich .

Beforecontinuing,letusrecallthatthebehaviourofthesolution(s)tothisequationdependonwhether
theconstant ispositiveornegative:

positive negative

Allthesolutionsgrowexponentially Allthesolutionsdecaytozero

Withthisinmind,letusexamineanotherrealizationofadifferentialequation,thistimeconnectedwiththe
propertyofcooling(orlossofheat)ofawarmobjectinacolderenvironment.Thefollowing"Law"isan
approximatedescriptionofexperimentallyobservedbehaviour.

Newton'sLawofCooling

Newton'sLawofCoolingstatesthattherateofchangeofthetemperatureofanobjectis
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3/9/2017 Newton'sLawofCooling

proportionaltothedifferencebetweenitsowntemperatureandtheambienttemperature(i.e.the
temperatureofitssurroundings).

Newton'sLawmakesastatementaboutaninstantaneousrateofchangeofthetemperature.Wewill
seethatwhenwetranslatethisverbalstatementintoadifferentialequation,wearriveatadifferential
equation.Thesolutiontothisequationwillthenbeafunctionthattracksthecompleterecordofthe
temperatureovertime.Newton'sLawwouldenableustosolvethefollowingproblem.

Example1:TheBigPotofSoupAspartofhissummerjobataresturant,Jimlearnedtocookupa
bigpotofsouplateatnight,justbeforeclosingtime,sothattherewouldbeplentyofsouptofeed
customersthenextday.Healsofoundoutthat,whilerefrigerationwasessentialtopreservethesoup
overnight,thesoupwastoohottobeputdirectlyintothefridgewhenitwasready.(Thesouphadjust
boiledat100degreesC,andthefridgewasnotpowerfulenoughtoaccomodateabigpotofsoupifit
wasanywarmerthan20degreesC).Jimdiscoveredthatbycoolingthepotinasinkfullofcoldwater,
(keptrunning,sothatitstemperaturewasroughlyconstantat5degreesC)andstirringoccasionally,he
couldbringthttemperatureofthesoupto60degreesCintenminutes.Howlongbeforeclosingtime
shouldthesoupbereadysothatJimcouldputitinthefridgeandleaveontime?

Solution:Letussummarizetheinformationbrieflyanddefinenotationforthisproblem.
Let

=Temperatureofthesoupattimet(inmin).

=InitialTemperatureofthesoup=100deg.

=Ambienttemperature(tempofwaterinsink)=5deg.

Given:Therateofchangeofthetemperature ,is(byNewton'sLawofCooling)proportional
tothedifferencebetweenthetemperatureofthesoup andtheambienttemperature This
meansthat:

Hereabitofcareisneeded:Clearlyifthesoupishotterthanthewaterinthesink ,then
thesoupiscoolingdownwhichmeansthatthederivative shouldbenegative.(Rememberthe
connectionbetweenadecreasingfunctionandthesignofthederivative?).Thismeansthattheequation
weneedhastohavethefollowingsignpattern:

where isapositiveconstant.
Thisequationisanotherexampleofadifferentialequation.Theindependentvariableis fortime,the
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3/9/2017 Thisequationisanotherexampleofadifferentialequation.Theindependentvariableis
Newton'sLawofCooling fortime,the
functionwewanttofindis ,andthequantities areconstants.Infact,fromJim's
measurements,weknowthat ,butwestilldon'tknowwhatvaluetoputinfortheconstant .
Wewilldiscussthisfurtherbelow.

Foryourconsideration:

(1)Checkthatthedifferentialequationabovemakessense.Canitalsodescribethecaseofa
coldobjectheatingupinawarmerenvironment?

(2)Whatdoyouthinktheconstant represents?

(3)Whatunitswouldthisconstanthave?

(4)Ifyouweretocomparetherateofcoolingofthesoupinsideasealedstyrofoamcontainer,
andinsideametalpot,whichonemightcorrespondtoalargervalueofk?

Backtothesameoldequation

Theequationwearrivedatabovelooksdifferentfromtheoneswehavejustinvestigated,butasweshall
soonsee,thedifferenceisrathersuperficial.Indeed,bydefininganewvariable,wewillshowthatthe
equationisreallycompletelyrelatedtotheexponentialdecayseenpreviously.Toseethis,define
=Temperaturedifferencebetweensoupandwaterinsinkattimet.
=Initialtemperaturedifferenceattimet=0

Notethatifwetakeaderivativeof ,andusetheNewton'slawofcooling,wearriveat

(Wehaveusedthefactthat isconstanttoeliminateitsderivative,andwepluggedin for

whosesolutioniswellknowntous,namely:

Wecanusethisresulttoconclude(bypluggingin and )that

Itfollowsthat

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Wefoundthesolutioningeneralform,butitlooksquitecomplicated.Let'strytounderstandthis
expressionanditspredictionsinthecaseoftheproblemdescribedabove.

Howthesoupwillcool

Fromtheinformationintheproblem,weknowthat

sothat,

Wealsoknowthatafter10minutes,thesoupcoolsto60degrees,sothat .
Pluggingintothelastequation,wefindthat

Rearranging,

(Thestepsaremuchthesameasinourpreviousworkintheexampleonradioactivedecay.Inthelast
stepwetookareciprocalofbothsidesoftheequation.Thisjustmakesallthequantitiescomeouttobe
positiveinthenextstep,soitisdoneforconvenience,thoughitisnotanessentialstep).Wehavefound
that

Takingthenaturallogarithmofbothsides,andsolvingfor ,wefindthat

Thus,

Soweseethattheconstantwhichgovernstherateofcoolingis perminute.Nowwecan
specifythesolutionfully,sinceallconstantshavebeendeterminedfromtheinformationintheproblem.
Thepredictionisthatthetemperatureofthepotofsoupattimetwillbe

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Thebehaviourofthissolutionisshowninthediagram.

Foryourconsideration:

(1)Lookatthebehaviourofthesolutioncorrespondingtothefunction .Whatwillhappen
afteraverylongtime?Whatwilltheeventualtemperatureofthesoupbe?

(2)Howcanthisbeunderstoodfromtheexpressionfor ?Inparticular,whatwillhappento
theterm ?Willthistermbeincreasingordecreasingwithtime?

(3)Whatwillthetemperatureofthesoupbeafter1hour?

(4)Istheresomethinganalogoustoahalflifeinthisproblem?

(5)WhatwouldhappenifJimdidnotstirrthesoupoccasionally?Woulditstillcoolthesameway
?WouldNewton'sLawofCoolingapplyjustasbefore?Whyareweassumingthatthepotis
wellstirred?

(6)Whatwouldhappenifthewaterinthesinkwasnotrunning?Howwouldthischangeour
assumptionthattheambienttemperaturewasaconstant?

SolvingJim'sSoupproblem

Tofinishourwork,letusdeterminehowlongittakesforthesouptobecoolenoughtoputintothe
refrigerator.Weneedtowaituntil ,soatthattime:

Thisequationcanbesolvedfor inmuchthesamewayasbefore.Subtracting5frombothsidesand
dividingby95weget:
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3/9/2017 Newton'sLawofCooling

Takinglogarithmsofbothsides,wefindthat

Thus,usingthefactthat wehave

Thus,itwilltakealittleoverhalfanhourforJim'ssouptocooloffenoughtobeputintotherefrigerator.

Summary:

Wehavejustseenyetanotherexampleofasimpledifferentialequationandhowitcanbeusedtomake
predictions.Tosummarizewhatwefound,hereistheconnectionbetweenthedifferentialequationof
Newton'sLawofCoolinganditssolution:

Newton'sLawofCooling Solution

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