a) Show that the formula for the surface area of a sphere with radius rr is 4pir^24πr2. b) If a portion of the sphere is removed to form a spherical cap of height hh then then show the curved surface area is 2pihr^22πhr2?

a) Show that the formula for the surface area of a sphere with radius rr is 4pir^24πr2.

b) If a portion of the sphere is removed to form a spherical cap of height hh then then show the curved surface area is 2pihr^22πhr2

2 Answers
Apr 4, 2017

A = int dA

Explanation:

An area element on a sphere has constant radius r, and two angles. One is longitude phiϕ, which varies from 00 to 2pi2π. The other one is the angle with the vertical. To avoid counting twice, that angle only varies between 00 and piπ.

So the area element is dA = r d theta r sin theta d phi = r^2 sin theta d theta d phidA=rdθrsinθdϕ=r2sinθdθdϕ
Integrated over the whole sphere gives
A = int_0^pi sin theta d theta int_0^(2pi) dphi r^2 = -cos(theta)|_0^(pi) 2 pi r^2 = 4 pi r^2A=π0sinθdθ2π0dϕr2=cos(θ)π02πr2=4πr2

In part b, cos(theta)cos(θ) varies between a/rar and b/rbr which is such that b-a=hba=h
Then A= cos theta|_b^a 2pi r^2 = (b/r - a/r) 2 pi r^2 = (h/r) 2pi r^2 = 2 pi r hA=cosθab2πr2=(brar)2πr2=(hr)2πr2=2πrh

Note: Every derivation I found of this result uses cylindrical coordinates and is far more involved than this one. Can someone else check?

Apr 4, 2017

a) A = 4pir^2 A=4πr2
b) A = 2pihr^2 A=2πhr2

Explanation:

It is easier to use Spherical Coordinates, rather than Cylindrical or rectangular coordinates. This solution looks long because I have broken down every step, but it can be computer in just a few lines of calculation

With spherical coordinates, we can define a sphere of radius rr by all coordinate points where 0 le phi le pi0ϕπ (Where phiϕ is the angle measured down from the positive zz-axis), and 0 le theta le 2pi0θ2π (just the same as it would be polar coordinates), and rho=rρ=r).

The Jacobian for Spherical Coordinates is given by J=rho^2 sin phi J=ρ2sinϕ

And so we can calculate the surface area of a sphere of radius rr using a double integral:

A = int int_R \ \ dS \ \ \

where R={(x,y,z) in RR^3 | x^2+y^2+z^2 = r^2 }

:. A = int_0^pi \ int_0^(2pi) \ r^2 sin phi \ d theta \ d phi

If we look at the inner integral we have:

int_0^(2pi) \ r^2 sin phi \ d theta = r^2sin phi \ int_0^(2pi) \ d theta
" " = r^2sin phi [ \ theta \ ]_0^(2pi)
" " = (r^2sin phi) (2pi-0)
" " = 2pir^2 sin phi

So our integral becomes:

A = int_0^pi \ 2pir^2 sin phi \ d phi
\ \ \ = -2pir^2 { cos phi ]_0^pi
\ \ \ = -2pir^2 (cospi-cos0)
\ \ \ = -2pir^2 (-1-1)
\ \ \ = -2pir^2 (-2)
\ \ \ = 4pir^2 \ \ \ QED

For the area of the portion of a sphere we have a similar set-up:

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By trigonometry cos phi = h/r => phi = arccos(h/r) , and so we must restrict phi to arccos(h/r) le phi le pi/2, which gives us:

A = int_arccos(h/r)^(pi/2) \ int_0^(2pi) \ r^2 sin phi \ d theta \ d phi
\ \ \ = int_arccos(h/r)^(pi/2) \ (r^2sin phi)(2pi-0) \ d phi
\ \ \ = int_arccos(h/r)^(pi/2) \ 2pir^2sin phi \ d phi
\ \ \ = -2pir^2[cosphi]_arccos(h/r)^(pi/2)
\ \ \ = -2pir^2(cos(pi/2)-cos(arccos(h/r)))
\ \ \ = -2pir^2(0-h/r)
\ \ \ = -2pir^2(-h/r)
\ \ \ = 2pihr^2 \ \ \ QED