Question 1.4: A liquid is filling a container that has the form of a cone ...

A liquid is filling a container that has the form of a cone of angle α around a vertical axis (Fig. 1.1). The liquid enters the cone from the apex through a hole of diameter d at a velocity ν (t) = kt where k is a constant. When the surface of the liquid is at height h (t), the volume is V (t) = \frac{1}{3} π\ tan^2 α h^3 (t). Initially, at time t = 0, the height h (0) = 0. Find an expression for the rate of change of volume \dot{V} (t) and determine h (t).

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The volume rate of change of the liquid is obtained by taking the time derivative of the volume V (t) = \frac{1}{3} π\ tan^2 α h^3 (t),

\dot{V}(t) = π\ tan^2 α h^2 (t) \dot{h}(t).

where the angle α is a constant. The volume rate of change of the liquid inflow is expressed as,

\dot{V} (t)=\pi \Bigl(\frac{d}{2}\Bigr)^2 \nu (t) =\pi \frac{kd^2}{4} t.

Equating the two previous equations yields,

\tan^2 α h^2 (t) \dot{h}(t) = \frac{kd^2}{4} t.

which can be recast as,

h^2 (t) d h (t) = \frac{kd^2}{4\tan^2 α } t dt.

When integrating, we obtain,

\int_{h(0)}^{h(t)}h^{\prime 2} (t^{\prime} ) d h^{\prime} (t^{\prime} ) = \frac{kd^2}{4\tan ^2 \alpha } \int_{0}^{4}{t^{\prime} d t^{\prime} }.

The result of this integration is,

\frac{1}{3} h^3(t) = \frac{kd^2}{4\tan ^2 \alpha } \frac{1}{2} t^2.

Thus, the height of liquid inside the cone is,

h(t) = \biggl(\frac{3kd^2}{8\tan ^2 \alpha }\biggr)^{\frac{1}{3} } t^{\frac{2}{3} }.

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