Solutions to Exercises on Newton s Law of Cooling S. F. Ellermeyer 1.

A thermometer is taken from a room that is 20 C to the outdoors where the temperature is 5 C . After one minute, the thermometer reads 12 C . Use Newton s Law of Cooling to answer the following questions. (a) What will the reading on the thermometer be after one more minute? (b) When will the thermometer read 6 C ? Solution: If T is the thermometer temperature, then Newton s Law of Cooling tells us that dT = k (5 dt T (0) = 20. The solution of this initial value problem is T = 5 + 15e
kt

T)

. using the given to consider the some facts that Law of Cooling.

We still need to nd the value of k . We can do this by information that T (1) = 12. In fact, let us pause here general problem of nding the value of k . We will obtain can be used in the rest of the problems involving Newton s Suppose that we have the model dT = k (Ts dt T (0) = T0 T (t1 ) = T1 T)

where t1 is some time other than 0. Then, from the rst two equations in the model, we obtain T = Ts + (T0 Ts ) e kt and from the third equation we obtain Ts + (T0 Ts ) e 1
kt1

= T1 .

Thus (T0 which gives us e or ekt1 = or k= 1 ln t1

kt1

Ts ) e =

kt1

= T1 Ts Ts Ts Ts Ts Ts

Ts

T1 T0 T0 T1 T0 T1

The latter equation gives us the value of k . However, note that, in most problems that we deal with, it is not really necessary to nd the value of k . Since the term e kt that appears in the solution of Newton s Law of Cooling can be written as t=t1 e kt = e kt1 , we really just need (in most situations) to know the value of e kt1 , and this value has been obtained in the work done above. In particular, the solution of Newton s Law of Cooling, T = Ts + (T0 can be written as T = Ts + (T0 or as T = Ts + (T0 Ts ) T1 T0 Ts Ts Ts ) e Ts ) e
kt

kt1 t=t1

t=t1

Returning now to the problem at hand (with the thermometer), we see that the temperature function for the thermometer is T = 5 + 15 7 15
t

Note that this makes sense because this formula gives us T (0) = 5 + 15 2 7 15
0

= 20

and T (1) = 5 + 15 7 15

= 12.

To nd what the thermometer will read two minutes after being taken outside, we compute 2 7 8:3 T (2) = 5 + 15 15 which tells us that the thermometer will read about 8:3 C two minutes after being taken outside. Finally, to determine when the thermometer will read 6 C , we solve the equation t 7 5 + 15 = 6. 15 The step by step solution of this equation is 15 7 15 7 15 ln 7 15 t ln
t t

=1
t

= !

1 15 1 15

= ln = ln

7 15

1 15 ln (1=15) t= ln (7=15)

3:5.

Thus, the thermometer will reach 6 C after being outside for about 3:5 minutes. Let us remember, in solving the upcoming problems, that the solution of the problem dT = k (Ts dt T (0) = T0 T (t1 ) = T1 3 T)

(which type of problem is called a boundary value problem because we are given prescribed values of a dierential equation at two points) can be written as t=t1 T1 Ts T = Ts + (T0 Ts ) . T0 Ts 2. At midnight, with the temperature inside your house at 70 F and the temperature outside at 20 F , your furnace breaks down. Two hours later, the temperature in your house has fallen to 50 F . Assume that the outside temperature remains constant at 20 F . At what time will the inside temperature of your house reach 40 F ? Solution: The boundary value problem that models this situation is dT = k (20 dt T (0) = 70 T (2) = 50 T)

where time 0 is midnight. The solution of this boundary value problem (from the work done in problem 1 above) is T = 20 + 50 3 5
t=2

Note (for the purpose of a reasonableness check) that this formula gives us T (0) = 20 + 50 and T (2) = 20 + 50 3 5
0 =2

= 70
2=2

3 = 50. 5 To nd when the temperature in the house will reach 40 F , we must solve the equation t=2 3 20 + 50 = 40. 5 The solution of this equation is t=2 ln (2=5) ln (3=5) 3:6.

Thus, the temperature in the house will reach 40 F a little after 3:30 a.m. 4

3. You can nd the temperature inside your refrigerator without putting a thermometer inside. Take a can of soda from the refrigerator, let it warm for half an hour, then record its temperature. Let it warm for another half an hour and record its temperature again. Suppose that the readings are T (1=2) = 45 F and T (1) = 55 F . Assuming that the room temperature is 70 F , what is the temperature inside the refrigerator? Solution: Taking the time one half hour after the soda was removed from the refrigerator to be the zero time (and stating the given information in an appropriate way), we have the boundary value problem dT = k (70 dt T (0) = 45 T (1=2) = 55 T)

and we know that the solution of this boundary value problem is T = 70 25 3 5

2t

To check this formula for reasonableness, we observe that the formula gives us 2(0) 3 T (0) = 70 25 = 45 5 and T 1 2 = 70 25 3 5
2( 1 2)

= 55.

The temperature of the refrigerator is the temperature of the can of soda at time t = 1=2, so we see that the temperature of the refrigerator is T 1 2 = 70 = 70 25 25 3 5 5 3
2(
1 2

28:3 F . 5

4. In a murder investigation, a corpse was found by a detective at exactly 8 P.M. Being alert, the detective also measured the body temperature and found it to be 70 F . Two hours later, the detective measured the body temperature again and found it to be 60 F . If the room temperature is 50 F , and assuming that the body temperature of the person before death was 98:6 F , at what time did the murder occur? Solution: With time 0 taken to be 8 P.M., we have the boundary value problem dT = k (50 dt T (0) = 70 T (2) = 60 whose solution is T = 50 + 20 1 2 T)

t=2

We would like to nd the value of t for which T (t) = 98:6. Solving the equation t=2 1 = 98:6 50 + 20 2 gives us t=2 ln (48:6=20) ln (1=2) 2:56.

It appears that this person was murdered at about 5:30 P.M. or so. Here is a graph of the function T = 50 + 20 over the time interval 2:56 t 2:56. 1 2
t=2

90

80 body temperature

70

60 -2 -1 0 1 in hours time 2

5. John and Maria are having dinner and each orders a cup of coee. John cools his coee with three tablespoons of cream. They wait ten minutes and then Maria cools her coee with three tablespoons of cream. The two then begin to drink. Who drinks the hotter coee? (Assume that adding three tablespoons of cream to coee immediately cools the coee by 10 F .) Solution: Let t0 be the time that John adds cream and let t1 be the time (ten minutes after t0 ) that Maria adds cream. At time t0 , John s coee is 10 F cooler than Maria s coee. During the ten minute time interval from time t0 to time t1 , both John s and Maria s coees are cooling (getting closer to room temperature). However, during this ten second time interval, John s coee is cooling more slowly than Maria s coee, and Maria s coee is always warmer than John s coee. At time t1 , there must be less than 10 F dierence between the coee temperatures. Thus, when Maria adds cream, it drops her coee s temperature below that of John s coee temperature, so John drinks the warmer coee.