. Into a 2000 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 container is placed 1000 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑎 𝑏𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 containing 40 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡.

A brine
solution containing . 02 𝑘𝑔/𝑙 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 flows into the container at a rate of 50 𝑙/𝑚𝑖𝑛 . The solution is kept
thoroughly mixed, and the mixture flows out at a rate of 25 𝑙/𝑚𝑖𝑛. How much salt is in the container at the
moment it overflows?

Answer. The set up is going to be similar to the previous problems. We first define the function
s(t) = kgs of salt in the tank at time t minutes.
and we know that
s ‘(t) = (rate of salt going in) − (rate of salt going out).
First, the “rate in”:
0.02 𝑘𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 1 𝑘𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡
rate in = 𝑥 50 𝑚𝑖𝑛 =
𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛

Now for the “rate out,” and here we have to be a little bit careful. Note that more solution is flowing in than is
flowing out of the tank. At the very beginning, how much solution is in the tank? 1000 liters. Ok, how much
solution is in the tank after 1 minute? 1000 + 50 (𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑖𝑛 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒) −
25 (𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 𝑓𝑙𝑜𝑤𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑝𝑒𝑟 𝑚𝑖𝑛𝑢𝑡𝑒) = 1000 + (50 − 25) = 1025 liters. And after 2 minutes? 1000 +
(50 − 25) · 2 = 1050 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠. Therefore, after t minutes, there is 1000 + (50 − 25)𝑡 = 1000 +
25𝑡 𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 of solution in the tank. Therefore, the “rate out” is

[𝑠(𝑡)𝑘𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡] 25𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠 [𝑠(𝑡)𝑘𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡]

× =
[(1000 + 25𝑡)𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑒𝑟𝑠] 𝑚𝑖𝑛 [(40 + 𝑡)𝑚𝑖𝑛]

This leads to the differential equation:

s(t) 𝑠(𝑡)
s ‘ (t) = 1 − 40 + t==s ‘ (t) + 40 + 𝑡= 1.
This equation is of the general form 𝑠’ (𝑡) + 𝑝(𝑡)𝑠(𝑡) = 𝑔(𝑡), and we know how to solve equations of this
form:
1 1
𝑠(𝑡) = [ ] [∫ µ(𝑡)𝑔(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 µ(𝑡)𝑔(𝑡)𝑑𝑡] + [𝐷 ] 𝑤ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 µ(𝑡) = exp ∫ 𝑝(𝑡)𝑑𝑡 .
µ(𝑡) µ(𝑡)

Plugging things in and integrating yields:

[80 𝑡 + 𝑡 2 ] 𝐷
𝑠(𝑡) = +
[2 (40 + 𝑡)] [40 + 𝑡]

At time t = 0, there is 40 kgs of salt in the tank, 𝑠𝑜 𝑠(0) = 40. This implies that 𝐷 = 1600. Therefore,
𝑡2 40
𝑠(𝑡) = 80 𝑡 + +
[2 (40 + 𝑡)] [40 + 𝑡]
When (i.e. for what time t) does the tank overflow? The moment there is 2000 liters of solution in it. We have an
expression for the amount of solution in the tank: 1000 + 25t. So setting this equal to 2000 and solving for t:
1000 + 25𝑡 = 2000 ⇒ 𝑡 = 40.

Therefore, at the moment of overflow, there is 𝑠(40) = 50 𝑘𝑔𝑠 𝑜𝑓 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 in the container.
A tank has pure water flowing into it at 10 l/min. The contents of the tank are kept thoroughly mixed, and the
contents flow out at 10 l/min. Initially, the tank contains 10 kg of salt in 100 l of water.How much salt will there
be in the tank after 30 minutes?

To study such a question, we consider the rate of change of the amount of salt in the tank. Let S be the amount of
𝑑𝑆
salt in the tank at any time t. If we can create an equation relating 𝑑𝑡 to S and t, then we will have a differential
equation which we can, ideally, solve to determine the relationship between S and t.

𝑑𝑆
To describe 𝑑𝑡 we use the concept of concentration, the amount of salt per unit of volume of liquid in the tank. In
this example, the inflow and outflow rates are the same, so the volume of liquid in the tank stays constant at 100
l. Hence, we can describe the concentration of salt in the tank by
𝑆
Concentration of salt = ( )kg/l
100

Then, since mixture leaves the tank at the rate of 10 l/min, salt is leaving the tank at the rate of

𝑆 𝑙 𝑆
(10 )=
100 𝑚𝑖𝑛 10
This is the rate at which salt leaves the tank, so
𝑑𝑆 𝑆
= −
𝑑𝑡 10

This is the differential equation we can solve for S as a function of t. Notice that since the derivative is expressed
in terms of a single variable, it is the simplest form of separable differential equations, and can be solved as
follows:
dS 1
∫ = −∫ 10 dt
S
1
ln |S| = −10 𝑡 + C
1
𝑆 = 𝐶𝑒 −10𝑡
We can see from this that as 𝑡 goes to infinity, the amount of salt in the tank goes to zero. Also, after 30 minutes,
there will be 𝑆 = 10𝑒 −3 = 0.49787068 𝑘𝑔 of salt in the tank.

_|_________________________________________________
1
A tank with a capacity of 1500 gals originally contains 1000 gals of fresh water. The first pipe containing 2 lb of
1
salt per gallon is entering at a rate of 4 gal/min. The second pipe containing 3 lb of salt per gallon is entering at a
rate of 6 gal/min. The mixture is allowed to flow out of the tank at a rate of 5 gal/min. Find the amount of salt in
the tank at any time prior to the instant when the solution begins to overflow.

Note* the rate out does not match the rate in. The amount of the solution in the tank in increasing (10 gal/min IN
- 5 gal/min OUT = INCREASING by 5 gal/min). This alters our equation for the tank salt concentration. It will
now be
 𝑄 𝑄
𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑘 𝑠𝑎𝑙𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑛𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 = =
𝑐𝑢𝑟𝑟𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝑎𝑚𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑡 𝑜𝑓 𝑤𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟 𝑠𝑜𝑙𝑢𝑡𝑖𝑜𝑛 1000 + 5𝑡

Determine how much salt is coming in

1 𝑙𝑏 𝑔𝑎𝑙
𝑃𝑖𝑝𝑒 1 = · 4
2 𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑛
1 𝑙𝑏 𝑔𝑎𝑙
𝑃𝑖𝑝𝑒 2 = · 6( )
3 𝑔𝑎𝑙 𝑚𝑖𝑛
= 2 𝑙𝑏/𝑚𝑖𝑛) + 2 𝑙𝑏/𝑚𝑖𝑛
= 4 𝑙𝑏/𝑚𝑖𝑛

Determine how much salt is going out

𝑄 𝑔𝑎𝑙
𝑅𝑎𝑡𝑒 𝑂𝑢𝑡 = · 5
(1000 + 5𝑡 𝑙𝑏 𝑔𝑎𝑙) 𝑚𝑖𝑛
5𝑄 𝑙𝑏
= (1000 + 5𝑡) (𝑚𝑖𝑛)

Combining everything our differential equation becomes

5𝑄 𝑙𝑏
𝑑𝑄/𝑑𝑡 = 4 𝑙𝑏/𝑚𝑖𝑛 − ( )
1000 + 5𝑡 𝑚𝑖𝑛

𝑑𝑄 5𝑄
= + = 4
𝑑𝑡 1000 + 5𝑡

Multiplying by our integrating factor 1000 + 5t we arrive to

𝑑𝑄 5𝑄
· (1000 + 5𝑡) + · (1000 + 5𝑡) = 4 · (1000 + 5𝑡)
𝑑𝑡 1000 + 5𝑡
𝑑
[𝑄 · (1000 + 5𝑡)] = 4 · (1000 + 5𝑡)
𝑑𝑡
5𝑡 2
𝑄 · (1000 + 5𝑡) = 4 (1000𝑡 + )+ 𝐶
2
5𝑡 2
4 (1000𝑡 + 2 ) + 𝐶
𝑄 =
1000 + 5𝑡
Because 𝑄(0) = 0, we get 𝐶 = 0 which makes our solution

5𝑡 2
4 (1000𝑡 + 2 )
𝑄 = , 𝑡 < 100
1000 + 5𝑡

Since our tank overflows after 1500 gallons at time𝑡 = 100, to find the amount of salt at that instant we evaluate
𝑄(100).
500000 1000
𝑄(100) = = ≈ 333.333
1500 3