Answer:
10-hour decay factor = 0.13012
5-hour decay factor = 0.52173
1-hour decay factor = 0.87799
154.52624 mg of caffeine
Step-by-step explanation:
Exponential decay is the decrease in a quantity N according to:
where
= initial value of quantity N
N(t) = quantity N at time t
k = decay constant associated to physical properties of N
= decay factor
Substituting the values from the problem:
t = 10 hours
= 0.2722
Then, solving for k:
With the value of the decay constant k, you could calculate the decay factor at any given time. For t = 5 hours, the decay factor is given by:
For t = 1 hour, the decay factor is given by:
If there are 176 mg in Tony's body 1.23 hours after consuming the energy drink, then you could take this value as the initial value of quantity N, i.e. . Then, the quantity of caffeine in Tony's body 2.23 hours later is just the quantity N(t) one hour later from the initial value (1.76 mg), then:
Note that is the 1-hour decay factor previously calculated.