Evaporation differential problem

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a differential equation related to evaporation in a volume of liquid, specifically focusing on the relationship between the height of the liquid and the rates of evaporation and filling. The problem involves integrating a derived equation to understand the dynamics of the system.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Mathematical reasoning, Assumption checking

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss various formulations of the problem, including the original poster's attempt to derive a differential equation for the height of the liquid. Others explore analogous problems and suggest alternative expressions for the area and volume relationships, questioning the complexity of including evaporation terms.

Discussion Status

There is an ongoing exploration of different approaches to the problem, with some participants providing insights into analogous scenarios and expressing uncertainty about the integration process. While attempts have been made to derive equations, there is no explicit consensus on the correctness of the approaches or solutions proposed.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the complexity of the equations involved and the challenges of integrating them, particularly with respect to the evaporation term. There is an acknowledgment of the need to clarify assumptions about the relationships between variables.

ElliottG
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Homework Statement


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Homework Equations


Given in problem

The Attempt at a Solution


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Hey guys

So I have this problem I'm working on and I just can't seem to get too far with it. I've gotten half of the first part...I'm just having trouble integrating the equation I got...and I don't even know if the equation I got is right in the first place!

I set:

Rin = pi
Rout = pi(20h-h^2)

dh/dt = Rin - Rout


I'm trying to solve the DE right now but don't know how to proceed...

Any help would be great,
Thanks.
 
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Anyone? Sorry for bumping this so early!
 
I looked at it and it looks very messy to include the evaporation term. But maybe I'm missing something. So instead, I worked an analogous problem by filling an inverted right triangle (like the cross-section of a trough made with two pieces of wood) with area in the same way: We can fill the area at a rate of k and let the evaporation rate be proportional to the length of the base (on top of it) with proportionality constant c. So, I would write the change in area as:

\frac{dA}{dt}=f(A,t)=k-cL

but I can get the length of the base as a function of A. For a right triangle, that's L(A)=\sqrt{4 A} so then we have including evaporation:

\frac{dA}{dt}=k-c\sqrt{4A}

Integrating:

\int_0^A \frac{dy}{k-c\sqrt{4y}}=\int_0^t dt

And even that simple case is still very messy and the function A(t) is in terms of a Lambert function.

Now, if you used the same principle, in your case, expressing area of the pond surface as a function of volume beneath it, the DE I think would be:

\frac{dV}{dt}=\pi-0.01 A(V)

but the function A(V) looks way too messy to do it symbolically.

Maybe someone else can help.
 
Last edited:
Thanks I greatly appreciated your time and effort.

Hopefully someone else will chime in soon.
 
How about we try this:
We know from part (a) that A(h)=\pi(20 h-h^2) and:

We can write:

\frac{dh}{dt}=\frac{dh}{dV} \frac{dV}{dt}

and first without evaporation we have:

\frac{dh}{dt}=\frac{dh}{dV} \frac{dV}{dt}=\frac{1}{2\pi Rh-\pi h^2} \pi

we can integrate that:

\int_0^h (2Rh-h^2)dh=\int_0^t dt
and get:

Rh^2-1/3h^3=t
and use that to figure out how long it takes to fill without evaporation.

Now with evaporation, we have:

\frac{dV}{dt}=\pi-kA(h)

so substituting, we obtain:

\frac{dh}{dt}=\frac{1}{2\pi Rh-\pi h^2}\left[\pi -k(20\pi h-\pi h^2)\right]

Now the question is, can we integrate that and is it correct? Gotta' try things in math you know, and learn to tolerate making wrong turns. :)
 

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