How to Solve a Classic Watertank Salinity Problem?

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Homework Help Overview

The discussion revolves around a variant of the classic watertank equation, focusing on a problem involving a saline water tank with specific inflow and outflow rates. Participants are tasked with computing the quantity of salt in the tank after a set duration.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Assumption checking, Problem interpretation

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss the setup of the differential equation and question the correctness of the terms used in the equation. There is a focus on the rate of salt entering the tank and the interpretation of the variables involved.

Discussion Status

Several participants have provided insights and corrections regarding the formulation of the problem. There is acknowledgment of potential discrepancies in the expected solution, and some participants have noted that the web assignment may have had incorrect information stored.

Contextual Notes

Participants mention that the task is presented in a web form that only indicates whether the solution is correct, which adds to the uncertainty regarding the expected answers. There is also a note about the need for rounding in the final answer.

cpx
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[SOLVED] Classic watertank equation

I'm having trouble with a variant of the classic watertank equation. The data is as follows.
A tank contains 300 liters of saline water, containing a total of 1800 grams of salt. Through an inlet, saline water containing 5 grams/liter is pumped in at a speed of 2 liters/minute. The well-mixed solution is pumped out at a speed of 3 liters/minute. Compute the quantity of salt, in grams, after 100 minutes.

Here's my attempt at solving this:
[tex] V(t)=300-t[/tex]

[tex] \frac{dS}{dt}=10t-3\frac{S}{V}[/tex]

[tex] S(0)=1800[/tex]

Running it in the ODE Analyzer in MAPLE got me [tex]S(100)\approx33867[/tex], which isn't the solution. Can anyone spot what I've done wrong?
 
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I don't see anything wrong with the setup. On the other hand if I integrate it I don't get 33867. Check your MAPLE setup. What are you supposed to get?
 
Is it supposed to be 1089? I think the rate in should be just 10 and not 10t.
 
Vid said:
Is it supposed to be 1089? I think the rate in should be just 10 and not 10t.

Ooops. That's correct. I missed that! No wonder I didn't get 33867.
 
Ah! Of course it should be just 10. I'm also getting 1089 now.

Unfortunately though, this doesn't seem to be the correct answer either. I don't have access to the correct solution; the task is available in a web form and it only returns whether the solution is correct or not. So either there's something else we've all missed, or the task is misformulated or the stored solution incorrect :frown:

In any case, thanks for the help! :)
 
Well, the exact solution is 1088.89 or at least that's what mathematica tells me. A lot of web based assignments are finicky about these things.
 
Vid said:
Well, the exact solution is 1088.89 or at least that's what mathematica tells me. A lot of web based assignments are finicky about these things.

I didn't use numerics and got 9800/9. Where you supposed to approximate it? You can do it exactly.
 
Nope. It's supposed to be rounded to the nearest integer..
 
cpx said:
I'm having trouble with a variant of the classic watertank equation. The data is as follows.
A tank contains 300 liters of saline water, containing a total of 1800 grams of salt. Through an inlet, saline water containing 5 grams/liter is pumped in at a speed of 2 liters/minute. The well-mixed solution is pumped out at a speed of 3 liters/minute. Compute the quantity of salt, in grams, after 100 minutes.

Here's my attempt at solving this:
[tex] V(t)=300-t[/tex]

[tex] \frac{dS}{dt}=10t-3\frac{S}{V}[/tex]
Through the inlet, 10 grams of salt is coming in each minute. That first term should be "10" not "10t".

[tex] S(0)=1800[/tex]

Running it in the ODE Analyzer in MAPLE got me [tex]S(100)\approx33867[/tex], which isn't the solution. Can anyone spot what I've done wrong?
 
  • #10
It turned out the web assignment had the wrong answer stored. It's fixed now and the solution [tex]S(100)\approx1089[/tex] is correct. Thanks for the help! :)
 

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