MHB Emptying and filling a tank word problem.

  • Thread starter Thread starter paulmdrdo1
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Tank Word problem
AI Thread Summary
The problem involves two filling pipes and one draining pipe, with the filling times of 45 minutes and 30 minutes, respectively. When both filling pipes are open, the tank fills in 27 minutes despite the drain. The calculations confirm that the draining pipe takes 54 minutes to empty the tank alone. The discussion clarifies that the filling rate exceeds the draining rate, allowing the tank to fill even while draining occurs. This understanding resolves the confusion about simultaneous filling and emptying.
paulmdrdo1
Messages
382
Reaction score
0
I just want to make a sanity check here.

here's the problem

One pipe can fill a tank 45min and another can fill it in 30 min. If these two pipes are open and a third pipe is draining water from the tank, it takes 27 min to fill the tank. how low will it take the third pipe alone to empty a full tank?

this is how I solved it. But I'm dubious about the real life scenario I'm picturing in my head right now.

$\frac{1}{45}\times 27+\frac{1}{3}\times 27-\frac{1}{t}\times 27=1$ where t is the time required for the third pipe to empty the tank by itself.

answer $t=54$min

if the Filling and the emptying of the tank is simultaneously happening how can we say that the tank will reach the full state? I'm confused! please help me picture this correctly.
 
Mathematics news on Phys.org
Hello, paulmdrdo!

I just want to make a sanity check here.

One pipe can fill a tank 45min and another can fill it in 30 min.
If these two pipes are open and a third pipe is draining water
from the tank, it takes 27 min to fill the tank.
How long will it take the third pipe alone to empty a full tank?

This is how I solved it. But I'm dubious about the real life
scenario I'm picturing in my head right now.

$\frac{1}{45}\cdot 27+\frac{1}{3}\cdot 27-\frac{1}{t}\cdot 27\;=\;1$ . Correct!
where t is the time required for the third pipe
to empty the tank by itself.

Answer: t = 54 min. . Right!

If the filling and the emptying of the tank is simultaneously
happening, how can we say that the tank will reach the full state?
I'm confused! please help me picture this correctly.
Think about it . . .

Pipes A and B are filling at a faster rate than pipe C is draining.
Of course, the tank will eventually be filled.
 
Last edited:
Another way to look at it is that in 270 minutes, the first pipe can fill 6 tanks, the second pipe can fill 9 tanks and with the drain open 10 tanks will be filled. This means the drain can empty 9+6-10=5 tanks in 270 minutes or 1 tank every 54 minutes.
 
Suppose ,instead of the usual x,y coordinate system with an I basis vector along the x -axis and a corresponding j basis vector along the y-axis we instead have a different pair of basis vectors ,call them e and f along their respective axes. I have seen that this is an important subject in maths My question is what physical applications does such a model apply to? I am asking here because I have devoted quite a lot of time in the past to understanding convectors and the dual...
Fermat's Last Theorem has long been one of the most famous mathematical problems, and is now one of the most famous theorems. It simply states that the equation $$ a^n+b^n=c^n $$ has no solutions with positive integers if ##n>2.## It was named after Pierre de Fermat (1607-1665). The problem itself stems from the book Arithmetica by Diophantus of Alexandria. It gained popularity because Fermat noted in his copy "Cubum autem in duos cubos, aut quadratoquadratum in duos quadratoquadratos, et...
Insights auto threads is broken atm, so I'm manually creating these for new Insight articles. In Dirac’s Principles of Quantum Mechanics published in 1930 he introduced a “convenient notation” he referred to as a “delta function” which he treated as a continuum analog to the discrete Kronecker delta. The Kronecker delta is simply the indexed components of the identity operator in matrix algebra Source: https://www.physicsforums.com/insights/what-exactly-is-diracs-delta-function/ by...
Back
Top