Can anyone make a differential equation from the below eg:

AI Thread Summary
The discussion revolves around deriving a differential equation related to the rate of change of darkness from a burning candle. Participants clarify that while darkness is not a measurable quantity, brightness decreases with distance from the light source. The initial premise suggests a linear relationship, but this is challenged as unrealistic, emphasizing that brightness does not change linearly. A suggestion is made to consider practical examples, such as an object falling with drag, to illustrate the usefulness of differential equations. Ultimately, the conversation highlights the need for a more relevant scenario to demonstrate the application of differential equations effectively.
abhijath
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suppose in a dark room a candle is burning, so darkness increases as we move away from the candle. from the below diagram can anyone derive a differential example to show the rate of change of darkness from candle to point B.

IMG_20151103_235023.jpg


supposing darkness decreases by one unit for every meter and AB is 10 meter.
 
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What do you know about the light intensity at some point from the light source?
 
Take light intensity as 10 at point A
 
abhijath said:
Take light intensity as 10 at point A
jedishrfu means at some arbitrary point at a given distance from the source.
 
It decreases by 1 unit for every metre from A to B
 
So light intensity will be zero at point B
 
abhijath said:
supposing darkness decreases by one unit for every meter and AB is 10 meter
First, you don't mean that. Brightness will decrease from A to B.
And "darkness" is not a measurable, brightness is.
But is this statement part of the problem as given to you? Word for word? It's very strange because brightness will not change linearly with distance.
abhijath said:
So light intensity will be zero at point B
Again, that doesn't fit with reality.
 
Forget about reality, Iam just giving a concept so that someone can tell me how is differential equation useful in practical cases.
 
In any case, a diff. eq. is not relevant unless you consider an algebraic equation a diff. eq. of zero order:
brightness = 10(1 - x/10), x in meters.
Of course, this assumption is nonsense as others here have pointed out.
 
  • #10
abhijath said:
Forget about reality, Iam just giving a concept so that someone can tell me how is differential equation useful in practical cases.
Ok, but your example is not going to demonstrate differential equations being useful. In your example, you can just write down the algebraic relationship of brightness to distance from the given information. (As rudeman has done.). You could then differentiate it to obtain a differential equation, but this doesn't demonstrate any usefulness because you already know the solution.
You would need an example in which the equations you write down initially involve rates of change. Try an object falling, subject to drag which varies as either v or v2.
 
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