Surface Area of a Solid of Revolution

Ki-nana18
Messages
90
Reaction score
0

Homework Statement


Find the area of the surface generated when you rotate the parabola y=x2 0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to the square root of k, around the y-axis. You should end up with a simple formula in terms of the constant k.


Homework Equations


S=2\pi\intyds

The Attempt at a Solution


I suspect that the simple formula is the volume of a sphere. I got all the way to applying the fundamental theorem of calculus and so far I have 2pi[((12(square root of k)+3)/(18))^(3/2)-(1/12)]
 
Physics news on Phys.org
Ki-nana18 said:

Homework Statement


Find the area of the surface generated when you rotate the parabola y=x2 0 less than or equal to x less than or equal to the square root of k, around the y-axis. You should end up with a simple formula in terms of the constant k.


Homework Equations


S=2\pi\intyds

The Attempt at a Solution


I suspect that the simple formula is the volume of a sphere. I got all the way to applying the fundamental theorem of calculus and so far I have 2pi[((12(square root of k)+3)/(18))^(3/2)-(1/12)]

Your setup is incorrect because the radius of rotation should be x, not y. But I'm curious why you would think the answer for surface area would give a volume? And of a sphere?
 
Well I figured since I am rotating around the y-axis I would have the equation set up as x=\sqrt{}y.
 
LCKurtz said:
Your setup is incorrect because the radius of rotation should be x, not y. But I'm curious why you would think the answer for surface area would give a volume? And of a sphere?

Ki-nana18 said:
Well I figured since I am rotating around the y-axis I would have the equation set up as x=\sqrt{}y.

When you rotate about the y-axis the radius is in the x direction, your equation is given in terms of x, and the natural variable to use is x.
 
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...

Similar threads

Replies
4
Views
2K
Replies
1
Views
2K
Replies
5
Views
5K
Replies
10
Views
3K
Replies
5
Views
2K
Replies
9
Views
2K
Back
Top