Related Rates - cone draining into cylinder

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Homework Help Overview

The problem involves water draining from a conical tank into a cylindrical tank, focusing on related rates and volume calculations. The conical tank has specific dimensions, and the rate of change of water depth in the cone is defined in relation to its height.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory, Conceptual clarification, Mathematical reasoning

Approaches and Questions Raised

  • Participants discuss deriving the volume of the conical tank as a function of height, considering the relationship between the radius and height of the cone. There is uncertainty about how to express the radius in terms of height and how to differentiate the volume function correctly.

Discussion Status

Some participants have made progress in expressing the volume of the cone in terms of height and have shared their derived formulas. There is ongoing exploration of the implications of these expressions for further calculations related to the rates of change.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the importance of understanding the relationship between the dimensions of the cone and the changing water levels, as well as the need to clarify the assumptions regarding the radius as the height changes.

aFk-Al
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Homework Statement


Water is draining from a conical tank with height 12 feet and diameter 8 feet into a cylindrical tank that has a base with area [tex]400 \pi[/tex] square feet. The depth, h, in feet, of the water in the conical tank is changing at the rate of (h-12) feet per minute.

A) Write an expression for the volume of the water in the conincal tank as a function of h.

B) At what rate is the volume of the water in the conical tank changing when h=3?

C) Let y be the depth, in feet, of the water in the cylindrical tank. At what rate is y changing when h = 3?

Homework Equations


[tex]V = \frac{1}{3} \pi r^2 h[/tex]

The Attempt at a Solution


First I took the derivative of the volume function using the product rule:
[tex]\frac{dv}{dt} = \frac{2}{3} \ast \pi \ast r \ast \frac{dr}{dt} \ast h + \frac{1}{3} \ast \pi \ast r^2 \ast \frac{dh}{dt}[/tex]
I know that dh/dt = (h-12), but I'm not sure how to find dr/dt and I'm also not sure if I use 4 as the radius (b/c the radius of the water in the cone is constantly changing.) I'm guessing there is another relevant equation I'm missing, or something obvious. I know that the ratio of height of the cone to radius is constant, but I'm not sure if that helps or not.

If anyone could help me figure these out, I'm pretty sure I can do B) and C) on my own. Thanks in advance!
 
Last edited:
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aFk-Al said:

Homework Statement


Water is draining from a conical tank with height 12 feet and diameter 8 feet into a cylindrical tank that has a base with area [tex]400 \pi[/tex] square feet. The depth, h, in feet, of the water in the conical tank is changing at the rate of (h-12) feet per minute.

A) Write an expression for the volume of the water in the conincal tank as a function of h.

B) At what rate is the volume of the water in the conical tank changing when h=3?

C) Let y be the depth, in feet, of the water in the cylindrical tank. At what rate is y changing when h = 3?


Homework Equations


[tex]V = \frac{1}{3} \pi r^2 h[/tex]


The Attempt at a Solution


First I took the derivative of the volume function using the product rule:
[tex]\frac{dv}{dt} = \frac{2}{3} \ast \pi \ast r \ast \frac{dr}{dt} \ast h + \frac{1}{3} \ast \pi \ast r^2 \ast \frac{dh}{dt}[/tex]
I know that dh/dt = (h-12), but I'm not sure how to find dr/dt and I'm also not sure if I use 4 as the radius (b/c the radius of the water in the cone is constantly changing.) I'm guessing there is another relevant equation I'm missing, or something obvious. I know that the ratio of height of the cone to radius is constant, but I'm not sure if that helps or not.

If anyone could help me figure these out, I'm pretty sure I can do B) and C) on my own. Thanks in advance!

That's exactly why that asked you first, in (a), to write the volume of the water in the cone as a function of h only! Do that first. That has nothing to do with differentiating! If you are not sure how to do that, draw a side view of the conical tank. The cone formed by the entire tank has height twelve and radius 8 while the cone formed by the water has height h and radius r. Of course the triangles formed are similar triangles so the sides are in the same proportion. Once you have the volume of water in the conical tank as a function of h only, it should be easy to differentiate.
 
Answer for A) V = (pi/9)h^3
 
Would you mind solving c? and as for a, I actually got v=(1/27)∏h^3

Work process:

r=4 and h=12 so r/h=1/3 ; r= (1/3)h

v=(1/3)∏((1/3h)^2)h
v=(1/3)∏(1/9h^2)h
v=((1/3)*(1/9))∏h^3
v=(1/27)∏h^3
 

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