Show that the formula for the surface area of a sphere with radius r is 4pi r^2. b) If a portion of the sphere is removed to form a spherical cap of height h then then show the curved surface area is 2 pi h r^2?

Lara Browning

Lara Browning

Answered question

2023-03-13

a) Show that the formula for the surface area of a sphere with radius r is 4 π r 2 .
b) If a portion of the sphere is removed to form a spherical cap of height h then then show the curved surface area is 2 π h r 2 ?

Answer & Explanation

Emencisydeessyo2

Emencisydeessyo2

Beginner2023-03-14Added 2 answers

A sphere's area element has a constant radius r and two angles. One is longitude ϕ , which varies from 0 to 2 π . The other one is the angle with the vertical. To avoid counting twice, that angle only varies between 0 and π .
Thus, the area element is d A = r d θ r sin θ d ϕ = r 2 sin θ d θ d ϕ
Integrated over the whole sphere gives
A = 0 π sin θ d θ 0 2 π d ϕ r 2 = - cos ( θ ) 0 π 2 π r 2 = 4 π r 2
In part b, cos ( θ ) varies between a r and b r which is such that b - a = h
Thus A = cos θ b a 2 π r 2 = ( b r - a r ) 2 π r 2 = ( h r ) 2 π r 2 = 2 π r h
Every other derivation of this result that I found uses cylindrical coordinates and is far more involved than this one.
smakkie8iz

smakkie8iz

Beginner2023-03-15Added 5 answers

Spherical coordinates are more convenient to use than cylindrical or rectangular coordinates. This solution appears lengthy because I have broken down each step, but it can be computed in a few lines of code.
With spherical coordinates, we can define a sphere of radius r by all coordinate points where 0 ϕ π
(Where ϕ is the angle measured down from the positive z-axis), and 0 θ 2 π (just the same as it would be polar coordinates), and ρ = r ).
The Jacobian for Spherical Coordinates is given by J = ρ 2 sin ϕ
And so we can calculate the surface area of a sphere of radius r using a double integral:
A = R     d S    
where R = { ( x , y , z ) 3 x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = r 2 }
A = 0 π   0 2 π   r 2 sin ϕ   d θ   d ϕ
When we look at the inner integral, we get:
0 2 π   r 2 sin ϕ   d θ = r 2 sin ϕ   0 2 π   d θ
= r 2 sin ϕ [   θ   ] 0 2 π
= ( r 2 sin ϕ ) ( 2 π - 0 )
= 2 π r 2 sin ϕ
Thus, our integral becomes:
A = 0 π   2 π r 2 sin ϕ   d ϕ
      = - 2 π r 2 { cos ϕ ] 0 π
      = - 2 π r 2 ( cos π - cos 0 )
      = - 2 π r 2 ( - 1 - 1 )
      = - 2 π r 2 ( - 2 )
      = 4 π r 2     QED
By trigonometry cos ϕ = h r ϕ = arccos ( h r ) , and so we must restrict ϕ to arccos ( h r ) ϕ π 2 , which gives us:
A = arccos ( h r ) π 2   0 2 π   r 2 sin ϕ   d θ   d ϕ
      = arccos ( h r ) π 2   ( r 2 sin ϕ ) ( 2 π - 0 )   d ϕ
      = arccos ( h r ) π 2   2 π r 2 sin ϕ   d ϕ
      = - 2 π r 2 [ cos ϕ ] arccos ( h r ) π 2
      = - 2 π r 2 ( cos ( π 2 ) - cos ( arccos ( h r ) ) )
      = - 2 π r 2 ( 0 - h r )
      = - 2 π r 2 ( 0 - h r )
      = 2 π h r 2     QED

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