How Fast is the Radius of a Circle Increasing When a Stone is Dropped in Water?

Schaus
Messages
118
Reaction score
5

Homework Statement


A stone is dropped into some water and a circle of radius r is formed and slowly expands. The perimeter of the circle is increasing at 3 m/s. At the moment the radius is exactly 2m, what rate is the radius of the circle increasing?
Answer ## \frac {dr} {dt} = 0.48 m/s##

Homework Equations


## C = 2πr##
## A = πr^2##

The Attempt at a Solution


## \frac {dC} {dt} = 3 m/s##
## \frac {dr} {dt} = ?##
## C = 2πr##
Taking the derivative of circumference formula
## \frac {dC} {dt} = 2π \frac {dr} {dt}##
Subbing in my ## \frac {dC} {dt} = 3 m/s##
## 3 = 2π \frac {dr} {dt}##
Dividiving both sides by 2π gives me 4.71 m/s. I have also tried doing this with the Area of a circle formula but I still got 2.36 m/s which is no where near the 0.48 it is supposed to be. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Schaus said:

Homework Statement


A stone is dropped into some water and a circle of radius r is formed and slowly expands. The perimeter of the circle is increasing at 3 m/s. At the moment the radius is exactly 2m, what rate is the radius of the circle increasing?
Answer ## \frac {dr} {dt} = 0.48 m/s##

Homework Equations


## C = 2πr##
## A = πr^2##

The Attempt at a Solution


## \frac {dC} {dt} = 3 m/s##
## \frac {dr} {dt} = ?##
## C = 2πr##
Taking the derivative of circumference formula
## \frac {dC} {dt} = 2π \frac {dr} {dt}##
Subbing in my ## \frac {dC} {dt} = 3 m/s##
## 3 = 2π \frac {dr} {dt}##
Dividiving both sides by 2π gives me 4.71 m/s. I have also tried doing this with the Area of a circle formula but I still got 2.36 m/s which is no where near the 0.48 it is supposed to be. Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Check your arithmetic calculating ##\frac 3 {2\pi}##.
 
  • Like
Likes Schaus and RooksAndBooks
That's weird. When I do 3/2pi it gives me 4.71 but if I do 3/6.28 I get my answer. Thanks for the help, I wish I had thought of trying that earlier!
 
Schaus said:
That's weird. When I do 3/2pi it gives me 4.71 but if I do 3/6.28 I get my answer. Thanks for the help, I wish I had thought of trying that earlier!

That's because the calculator interprets it as ## \frac{3}{2}\pi##, ## \frac{3\pi}{2}##, or ##\frac{3}{2}(\frac{\pi}{1}) ## as opposed to ## \frac{3}{2\pi}##.

Next time, enter it into the calculator as 3/(2## \pi##)
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Likes Schaus
There are two things I don't understand about this problem. First, when finding the nth root of a number, there should in theory be n solutions. However, the formula produces n+1 roots. Here is how. The first root is simply ##\left(r\right)^{\left(\frac{1}{n}\right)}##. Then you multiply this first root by n additional expressions given by the formula, as you go through k=0,1,...n-1. So you end up with n+1 roots, which cannot be correct. Let me illustrate what I mean. For this...
Back
Top