Question

A 100 gallon tank initially contains 100 gallons of sugar water at a concentration of 0.25 pounds of sugar per gallon suppose that sugar is added to the tank at a rate of p pounds per minute that sugar water is removed at a rate of 1 gallon per minute and that water in the tank is kept well mixed. What value of P should we pick so that that when 5 gallons of sugar solution is left in the tank the concentration is .5lbs of sugar/gallon?

Answer 1

At the start, the tank contains

(0.25 lb/gal) * (100 gal) = 25 lb

of sugar. Let $S(t)$ be the amount of sugar in the tank at time $t$. Then $S(0)=25$.

Sugar is added to the tank at a rate of P lb/min, and removed at a rate of

$\left(1\frac{\rm gal}{\rm min}\right)\left(\dfrac{S(t)}{100}\dfrac{\rm lb}{\rm gal}\right)=\dfrac{S(t)}{100}\dfrac{\rm lb}{\rm min}$

and so the amount of sugar in the tank changes at a net rate according to the separable differential equation,

$\dfrac{\mathrm dS}{\mathrm dt}=P-\dfrac S{100}$

Separate variables, integrate, and solve for S.

$\dfrac{\mathrm dS}{P-\frac S{100}}=\mathrm dt$

$\displaystyle\int\dfrac{\mathrm dS}{P-\frac S{100}}=\int\mathrm dt$

$-100\ln\left|P-\dfrac S{100}\right|=t+C$

$\ln\left|P-\dfrac S{100}\right|=-100t-100C=C-100t$

$P-\dfrac S{100}=e^{C-100t}=e^Ce^{-100t}=Ce^{-100t}$

$\dfrac S{100}=P-Ce^{-100t}$

$S(t)=100P-100Ce^{-100t}=100P-Ce^{-100t}$

Use the initial value to solve for C :

$S(0)=25\implies 25=100P-C\implies C=100P-25$

$\implies S(t)=100P-(100P-25)e^{-100t}$

The solution is being drained at a constant rate of 1 gal/min; there will be 5 gal of solution remaining after time

$1000\,\mathrm{gal}+\left(-1\dfrac{\rm gal}{\rm min}\right)t=5\,\mathrm{gal}\implies t=995\,\mathrm{min}$

has passed. At this time, we want the tank to contain

(0.5 lb/gal) * (5 gal) = 2.5 lb

of sugar, so we pick P such that

$S(995)=100P-(100P-25)e^{-99,500}=2.5\implies\boxed{P\approx0.025}$