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In geometry, a spherical sector is a portion of a sphere defined by a conical boundary with apex at
the center of the sphere. It can be described as the union of a spherical cap and the cone formed by the
center of the sphere and the base of the cap.
Contents
Volume
Area
Derivation
See also A spherical sector (blue)
External links
Volume
If the radius of the sphere is denoted by r and the height of the cap by h, the volume of the spherical sector is
A spherical sector
where φ is half the cone angle, i.e., the angle between the rim of the cap and the direction to the middle of the cap as seen from the
sphere center.
The volume V of the sector is related to the area A of the cap by:
Area
The curved surface area of the spherical sector (on the surface of the sphere, excluding the cone surface) is
It is also
where Ω is the solid angle of the spherical sector in steradians, the SI unit of solid angle. One steradian is defined as the solid angle subtended by a cap area of A = r2.
Derivation
The volume can be calculated by integrating the differential volume element
where the integrals have been separated, because the integrand can be separated into a product of functions each with one dummy variable.
The area can be similarly calculated by integrating the differential spherical area element
See also
◾ Circular sector — the analogous 2D figure.
◾ Spherical cap
◾ Spherical segment
◾ Spherical wedge
External links
◾ Weisstein, Eric W. "Spherical sector" (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalSector.html). MathWorld.
◾ Weisstein, Eric W. "Spherical cone" (http://mathworld.wolfram.com/SphericalCone.html). MathWorld.
◾ Summary of spherical formulas (http://mathforum.org/dr.math/faq/formulas/faq.sphere.html#spherecap)
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