How to model tea diffusion/osmosis?

Question

How should I model the tea concentration as a function of time after a tea bag has been submerged? Is there a simple way of measuring the tea concentration?

score 3 · Accepted Answer · answered Mar 03 '11 at 14:37

3

Concentration measurement would be done by colourimetry rather easy.

For "model" look for 1st and 2nd law of Fick.

answered Mar 03 '11 at 14:37

Georg

6,884

score 0 · Answer 2 · answered Mar 04 '11 at 00:21

You could use a first order differentian equation, a Laplacian. You can choose to use x/y/z coordinates, or r/theta/phi depending on the shape of the tea pot will determine which one is simpler to use. I say use a laplacian because I assume the amount of tea in the water spreads out uniformly from the bag, so a tea density gradient would be formed. The solution to this however would likely be fairly complex (or at least not very simple) unless the container was spherical with the tea bag in the middle, and but since a tea pot is a crude approximation of this, it could be used to model it.

A Laplacian is a second-order differential equation, not first-order. — NuclearFission, Oct 29 '23 at 21:30

How to model tea diffusion/osmosis?

2 Answers2