Republic of the Philippines

Bulacan State University

City of Malolos, Bulacan
Tel/Fax (044) 791-0153

1st Semester, A.Y. 2019 – 2020

COE 201 – Differential Equations

Lecture 03 – Applications of First – Order Differential Equation

Procedure for Solving an Application Problem

1. Establish the governing differential equations based on physical principles and

geometrical properties underlying the problem.
2. Identify the type of these differential equations and then solve them as what have
been discussed in Lecture 02.
3. Determine the arbitrary constants in the general solutions using the initial or
boundary conditions.

Heating and Cooling

Newton’s Law of Cooling

According to Newton’s law of cooling, which is equally applicable to heating, the

rate at which a body loses heat, and therefore the change in temperature, is proportional
to the difference in temperature between the body and the surrounding medium:
𝑑𝑇
= −𝑘(𝑇 − 𝑇𝑚 )
𝑑𝑡
where 𝑇 is the temperature of the body, 𝑇𝑚 is the temperature of the surrounding
medium, and 𝑡 is time. Also, 𝑘 is a positive constant of proportionality. Once 𝑘 is chosen
𝑑𝑇
positive, the minus sign is required in Newton’s law to make 𝑑𝑡
negative in a cooling
process, when 𝑇 is greater than 𝑇𝑚 , and positive in a heating process, when 𝑇 is less
than 𝑇𝑚 .
Physical Application
Problem Statement 01. According to Newton’s law of cooling, the rate at which a
substance cools in moving air is proportional to the difference between the temperature
of the substance and that of the air. If the temperature of the air is 30℃ and the
substance cools from 100℃ and 70℃ in 15 minutes, find when the temperature will be
40℃.
Problem Statement 02. A detective discovers a murder victim in a hotel room at 9:00
a.m. one morning. The temperature of the body is 80.0 ℉. One hour later, at 10:00 a.m.,
the body has cooled to 75.0 ℉. The room is kept at a constant temperature of 70.0 ℉.
Assume that the victim had a normal temperature of 98.6 ℉ at the time of death. We
will use differential equations to find the time the murder took place.

Problem Statement 03. A metal bar at a temperature of 100 ℉ is placed in a room at a

constant temperature of 0 ℉. If after 20 minutes the temperature of the bar is 50 ℉,
find (a) the time it will take the bar to reach a temperature of 25 ℉ and (b) the
temperature of the bar after 10 minutes.

Problem Statement 04. A body temperature of 50 ℉ is placed outdoors where the

temperature is 100 ℉. If after 5 minutes the temperature of the body is 60 ℉, find (a)
how long it will take the body to reach a temperature of 75 ℉ and (b) the temperature
of the body after 20 minutes.
 Republic of the Philippines
Bulacan State University
City of Malolos, Bulacan
Tel/Fax (044) 791-0153

Population Dynamics (Growth and Decay Problems)

Let 𝑁(𝑡) denote the amount of substance (or population) that is either growing or
𝑑𝑁
decaying. If we assume that 𝑑𝑡
, the time rate of change of this amount of substance, is
proportional to the amount of substance present, then:
𝑑𝑁
= 𝑘𝑁
𝑑𝑡
Problem Statement 01. A certain radioactive material is known to decay at a rate
proportional to the amount present. If initially there is 50 milligrams of the material
present and after two hours it is observed that the material has lost 10 percent of its
original mass, find (a) an expression for the mass of the material remaining at any time
𝑡, (b) the mass of the material after four hours, and (c) the time at which the material
has decayed to one half of its initial mass.
Problem Statement 02. Five mice in a stable population of 500 are intentionally affected
with a contagious disease to test a theory of epidemic spread that postulates the rate of
change of the infected population is proportional to the product of the number of mice
who have the disease with the number that are disease free. Assuming the theory is
correct, how long will it take half of the population to contract the disease?

Problem Statement 03. If it is assumed that the earth cannot support a population
greater than 20 billion persons, and that the rate of population growth is proportional
to the difference between how close the world population is to this limiting value, what
is the mathematical expression describing the world population as a function of time?
Problem Statement 04. A certain radioactive material loses mass at a rate proportional
to the mass present. If the material has a half-life of 30 minutes, what percent of the
original mass is expected to remain after 0.9 hour?