MHB Solve Volume of Circle Rotated Around X-axis: Group Take Home

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The discussion revolves around solving the volume of a torus formed by rotating a circle around the x-axis, with participants sharing their calculations and confusion regarding the setup. The correct formula for the volume is established as V = 40π², derived from integrating the area of washers formed by the circle. A key point of confusion is how to incorporate the circle's center at (0,5) into the volume calculation. Participants clarify that the inner and outer radii must be correctly defined to account for the different distances traveled during rotation. Ultimately, the realization is made that the inner volume is less than the outer, leading to a better understanding of the problem.
Pull and Twist
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I am working on a take home with a group of students and we all got different answers for this problem... can anyone look over it and tell me where I am going wrong?? Let me know if any of my work is confusing...

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Well, the solid is a torus, and so we know its volume is:

$$V=\pi(2)^2(2\pi(5))=40\pi^2$$

You may wish to look at this thread:

https://mathhelpboards.com/threads/roisins-question-at-yahoo-answers-regarding-the-volume-of-a-torus.7992/
 
Last edited:
MarkFL said:
Well, the solid is a torus, and so we know its volume is:

$$V=\pi(2)^2(2\pi(5))=40\pi^2$$

You may wish to look at this thread:

http://mathhelpboards.com/questions-other-sites-52/roisins-question-yahoo-answers-regarding-volume-torus-7992.html?highlight=torus

I looked at that link and I'm confused as to how you incorporate the fact that the circle is centered at (0,5). I'm not really following the setup in that link.
 
PullandTwist said:
I am working on a take home with a group of students and we all got different answers for this problem... can anyone look over it and tell me where I am going wrong?? Let me know if any of my work is confusing...

The whole circle has equation $\displaystyle \begin{align*} x^2 + \left( y - 5 \right) ^2 = 4 \end{align*}$, so if we use washers, the inner radius is $\displaystyle \begin{align*} y = 5 - \sqrt{4 - x^2} \end{align*}$ and the outer radius is $\displaystyle \begin{align*} y = 5 + \sqrt{4 - x^2} \end{align*}$, so the volume is

$\displaystyle \begin{align*} V &= \pi \int_{-2}^2{ \left( 5 + \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) ^2 - \left( 5 - \sqrt{4 - x^2 } \right) ^2 \,\mathrm{d}x } \\ &= 2\pi \int_0^2{ \left( 5 + \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) ^2 - \left( 5 - \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) ^2 \, \mathrm{d}x } \\ &= 2\pi \int_0^2{ \left[ \left( 5 + \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) - \left( 5 - \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) \right] \left[ \left( 5 + \sqrt{ 4 - x^2} \right) + \left( 5 - \sqrt{4 - x^2} \right) \right] \,\mathrm{d}x } \\ &= 2\pi \int_0^2{ 20\,\sqrt{4 - x^2} \,\mathrm{d}x } \\ &= 40\pi \int_0^2{ \sqrt{ 4 - x^2} \,\mathrm{d}x } \end{align*}$

Now with the substitution $\displaystyle \begin{align*} x = 2\sin{(t)} \implies \mathrm{d}x = 2\cos{(t)}\,\mathrm{d}t \end{align*}$ and noting that when $\displaystyle \begin{align*} x = 0, t = 0 \end{align*}$ and when $\displaystyle \begin{align*} x = 2, t = \frac{\pi}{2} \end{align*}$, the integral becomes

$\displaystyle \begin{align*} 40\pi \int_0^2{\sqrt{4 - x^2}\,\mathrm{d}x} &= 40\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{ \sqrt{4 - \left[ 2\sin{(t)} \right] ^2 }\,2\cos{(t)}\,\mathrm{d}t} \\ &= 40\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{\sqrt{4 - 4\sin^2{(t)}}\, 2\cos{(t)}\,\mathrm{d}t} \\ &= 40\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{ 2\cos{(t)} \, 2\cos{(t)}\,\mathrm{d}t } \\ &= 160\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{ \cos^2{(t)}\,\mathrm{d}t } \\ &= 160\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{\frac{1}{2} \left[ 1 + \cos{(2t)} \right] \,\mathrm{d}t} \\ &= 80\pi \int_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}}{1 + \cos{(2t)}\,\mathrm{d}t} \\ &= 80\pi \left[ t + \frac{1}{2}\sin{(2t)} \right]_0^{\frac{\pi}{2}} \\ &= 80\pi \left[ \left( \frac{\pi}{2} + 0 \right) - \left( 0 + 0 \right) \right] \\ &= 80\pi \left( \frac{\pi}{2} \right) \\ &= 40 \pi ^2 \end{align*}$
 
PullandTwist said:
I looked at that link and I'm confused as to how you incorporate the fact that the circle is centered at (0,5). I'm not really following the setup in that link.

That problem is in more general terms, and is rotated about the $y$-axis instead, but the method would be essentially the same. :D
 
Thank you guys. That helped me immensely.

After thinking about it I realized where I was going wrong. I was thinking that I could bisect the torus at y=5 and solve for half the volume and then double it.

I finally realized that the volume of the inner part would actually be less then that of the outer part as it travels less distance to complete the full rotation. I had to imagine cutting a doughnut to visualize it.
 

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