Math 1010

Drug Filtering Lab

Name:_Scott Warner___

The purpose of this lab is to come up with a continuous model for exponential decay.
Dot assumes that her kidneys can filter out 25% of a drug in her blood every 4 hours. She knows
that she will need to take a drug test for an interview in a couple of days. She plans on taking one
1000-milligram dose of the drug to help manage her pain.
1.) Fill in the table showing the amount of the drug in your blood as a function of time and round
each value to the nearest milligram. The first two data points are already completed.

TIME SINCE
TAKING
THE DRUG (HR)
0
4
8
12
16
20
24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
526.5
421.8
316.4
237.3
177.9
133.4
100.1
75
56.3
42.2
31.6
23.7
17.8
13.3
10
7.5

What might a model for this data look like?

2.) Use a graphing utility to make a plot of the above data. Label axes appropriately.

1000
900
800
700
600
500
Drug Amount

400

300
200
100
0
Time: 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 32 40 48 52 56 60 64 68
3.) Based on your graph, what can you say about the data? For example, is there a pattern? Is
there constant slope?
The slope gets smaller as time goes on
4.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 2 days?
There will be 31.67 mg in Dots system
5.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood after 5 days?
She will have 0.238 mgs left
6.) How many milligrams of the drug are in Dots blood 30 hours after she took the drug? Explain
your reasoning.
116.79 mg will be left because there is a 25% decay rate for every 4 hours.

7.) A blood test is able to detect the presence of this drug if there is at least 0.1 mg in a persons
blood. How many days will it take before the test will come back negative? Explain your
answer.
It will take 5 days and 8 hours or 128 hours for her test to come back negative. This is
because every 4 hours there is still 75% of the amount of drugs in her system.

8.) Will the drug ever be completely removed from her system? Explain your reasoning. What
complications might arise from having excess amounts in her system?
There will always be some left in her system it just gets smaller every hour by 25%

9.) Since there is a constant rate of decay, a continuous exponential decay model can be used to
determine how much drug is in her system at any time.
Exponential Decay Model
A(t ) A0 e kt
Where A(t) is amount of drug in blood at time t in hours,
A0 is the initial amount of drug, and
k is the rate of decay (it will be a negative number)
You will have to find the actual value of k that works for this model. Write down the
exponential decay model for the amount of drug in Dots blood as a function of time:

Model: A(t)=1000*e^-0.0719205*t

Now use that model to fill in the following table:

TIME SINCE
TAKING
THE DRUG (HR)
0
4
8
12
16
20

AMOUNT OF
DRUG
IN HER BLOOD
(MG)
1000
750
562.5
421.875
316.40
237.30

24
28
32
36
40
44
48
52
56
60
64
68

177.97
133.48
100.11
75.08
56.31
42.23
31.67
23.75
17.81
13.36
10.02
7.51

10.)
Interpret the parameters of this exponential model in terms of the context of the
problem.
The limits of this problem would be that the numbers are rounded and we dont know
how accurate the rate of filtration is.
11.)
Compare your values with the estimated values in the model. How close were they?
Why might they be different?
The values were very close to each other. It depends on how you round the value
-0.0719

12.)
Use a graphing utility to graph the original data along with a graph of the model on the
same set of axes.

1000
900
800
700
600
500
Drug Amount

400

300
200
100
0

Time: 0 4 8 12 16 20 24 32 40 48 52 56 60 64 68
13.)
Were you expecting a horizontal asymptote? What might that mean in the context of
the problem?
Yes I was expecting a horizontal asymptote because the drug in her system was
getting filtered out

14.)

Using your model, how much drug is in her system 17 hours after taking the drug?
There will be 294.5519 mg in her system

15.)
Using your model, how long will it take for exactly one-half of the drug to remain in her
system?
It will take 10 hours for there to be half.

16.)

Using this model, how long will it take for 0.1 mg of the drug to remain in her system?
It will take 128 hours

17.)
Do you think the continuous decay model is more accurate for predicting the amount of
drug in her blood? Why? Or why not?
Yes I do think it is more accurate. It shows how much will be in her system at all
different times

18.)

What other factors should be considered in coming up with a more realistic model?
For a more realistic model you would need to find out how much Dots kidneys can
really filter out.

19.)
Reflective writing: Did this project change the way you think about how math can be applied to
the real world? Write one paragraph stating what ideas changed and why. If this project did not change
the way you think, write how this project gave further evidence to support your existing opinion about
applying math. Be specific.
This project did show me more ways that I am able to use math in my daily life. It showed me that
each different formula that we have learned can be applied in more than one way. The half-life formula
can be used to show how old something is or how long something will take to get out of your system.