The concentration of a specific chemical, CCC mmol/L, in a bioreactor ttt hours after a growth process starts is modelled by the differential equation
dCdt=α−0.25C \frac{dC}{dt} = \alpha - 0.25C dtdC=α−0.25Cwhere α\alphaα is a positive constant. At the start of the process, there is no trace of the chemical in the reactor.
Solve the differential equation to show that C=4α(1−e−0.25t)C = 4\alpha(1 - e^{-0.25t})C=4α(1−e−0.25t).
In the long term, the concentration in the bioreactor stabilizes at 20 mmol/L.
Find the value of α\alphaα.
Determine the time, in hours, for the concentration to reach 15 mmol/L, giving your answer to 2 significant figures.
825 exam-style questions on OCR (MEI) A Level Maths 1.9 Calculus, covering 1.9.1 Gradient of a curve at a point, 1.9.2 Gradient as limit of chord gradient, 1.9.3 Derivative as gradient of tangent, 1.9.4 Sketch the gradient function, 1.9.5 Differentiate y = kx^n, 1.9.6 Second derivative as rate of change of gradient, 1.9.7 Stationary points: maxima and minima, 1.9.8 Increasing and decreasing functions, 1.9.9 Tangent and normal at a point, 1.9.10 Differentiate e^kx, a^kx and ln x (A-level only), 1.9.11 Differentiate trigonometric functions (A-level only), 1.9.12 Product rule (A-level only), 1.9.13 Quotient rule (A-level only), 1.9.14 Chain rule (A-level only), 1.9.15 Rates of change with the chain rule (A-level only), 1.9.16 Implicit differentiation (A-level only), 1.9.17 Concavity and the second derivative (A-level only), 1.9.18 Points of inflection (A-level only), 1.9.19 Integration as reverse of differentiation, 1.9.20 Integrate kx^n, 1.9.21 Constant of integration, 1.9.22 Indefinite and definite integrals, 1.9.23 Area between a graph and the x-axis, 1.9.24 Integrate e^kx, 1/x, sin kx, cos kx (A-level only), 1.9.25 Integration as the limit of a sum (A-level only), 1.9.26 Area between two curves (A-level only), 1.9.27 Integration by substitution (reverse chain rule) (A-level only), 1.9.28 Integration by substitution (other cases) (A-level only), 1.9.29 Integration by parts (A-level only), 1.9.30 Integration using partial fractions (A-level only), 1.9.31 Formulate first order differential equations (A-level only), 1.9.32 Solve first order differential equations (A-level only), and 1.9.33 Interpret solutions of differential equations (A-level only). Each one has a worked solution and a mark scheme showing where the marks go.