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MATH 109 – SOLID MENSURATION

Sphere
A sphere is a solid bounded by a closed surface every
point of which is equidistant from a fixed point called the center.
A radius of a sphere is a straight line segment joining the center
to any point of the sphere. A diameter of a sphere is a chord
passing through the center of the sphere.

Properties
 Every section in the sphere made by a cutting plane is a
circle. If the cutting plane passes through the center of the
sphere, the section made is a great circle; otherwise the
section is a small circle.
 For a particular circle of a sphere, the axis is the diameter of the sphere perpendicular to the
plane of the circle.
 The ends of the axis of the circle of a sphere are
called poles.
 The nearer the circle to the center of the sphere,
the greater is its area.
 The largest circle in the sphere is the great circle.
 The radius (diameter) of the great circle is the
radius (diameter) of the sphere.
 All great circles of a sphere are equal.
 Every great circle divides the sphere into two equal parts called hemispheres.
 The intersection of two spherical surfaces is a circle whose plane is perpendicular to the line
joining the centers of the spheres and whose center is on that line. (See figure.)
 A plane perpendicular to a radius at its extremity is tangent to the sphere.

Formulas
The surface area of a sphere is equal to the area of four of its great circles.
Surface Area = Area of 4 great circles

SA  4 R2
or
d2
SA  4
4

SA   D2
where R is the radius
D is the diameter of the sphere.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
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4
The volume of the sphere is equal to the product of  and the cube of its radius.
3
4 3
Volume =  (radius)
3

4
V   R3
3
or

1
V   D3
6
where R is the radius and D is the diameter of the sphere.

Problem 1. A spherical metal shell is 1 cm. thick. If the inside diameter of the shell is 30 cm., find the
volume of the metal in the shell.

Problem 2. Find the surface area in the balloon’s covering and the volume of the gas if the diameter is
30 cm.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 3

Problem 3. A steel plant has to fill an order from an automobile manufacturer for 1 million steel bearings
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1 cm. in diameter. What is the total weight, in kilogram, of the metal required to fill this order if steel
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weighs 8 g. per cu. cm.

Problem 4. If the earth is in the form of a perfect sphere of diameter 13,000 km, find its volume and total
surface are.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 4

Problem 5. How many square inches of leather are required to cover a baseball whose circumference
is 9 in?

Problem 6. Find the volume of the largest cube that can be cut from a sphere of diameter 10 cm.

Problem 7. Find the volume and total area of a sphere which circumscribes a cylinder of revolution
whose altitude and diameter are 8 cm each.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 5

Problem 8. The cover of a concrete water tank is a hemisphere with outside radius of 6 m. and inside
radius of 5.5 m. How much concrete was used in the cover?

Problem 9. An atomic bomb consists of a cylinder surmounted by a right circular cone at one end and
capped by a hemispherical segment at the other end. All three have the same radius of 10 cm. the
height of the cylinder is 40 cm. and that of the cone is 30 cm. Find the volume and surface area of the
bomb.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 6

Problem 10. An igloo or Eskimo hut is built in the form of a hemispherical shell with an inside diameter
of 12 ft. If the igloo is constructed of snow blocks having uniform thickness of 2 ft. and weighing 40 lb.
per cu. ft., find the weight of the igloo, neglecting the entrance. Also, if fresh air contains 0.04 % carbon
dioxide, find the amount of this gas in the igloo when freshly ventilated.

Problem 11. A boy who had discovered that three ¾ in. marbles fitted snugly into the bottom of a
cylindrical jar, dropped a fourth on top of the three and poured water enough into the jar to just cover
them. How much water did he use?

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 7

Problem 12. A store sells the same quality of oranges graded as to size. A grade of orange 2 ½ in. in
diameter sells for 35 cents per dozen. What should be the cost of a grade 2 in. in diameter?

Problem 13. Two balls, one 6 in. in diameter and the other 4 in. in diameter, are placed in a cylindrical
jar 9 in. in diameter, as shown. Find the necessary volume of water to cover them.

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere
 8

Problem 14. Find the weight of a snowball 4 ft. in diameter if the wet compact snow of which it is made
weighs 30 lb. per cu. ft.

Problem 15. A layer of equal spheres is in the form of a square. The spheres are arranged so that each
sphere is tangent to every one adjacent to it. In the spaces between sets of 4 adjacent spheres, other
spheres rest, equal in size to the original. These spheres form in turn a second layer on top of the first.
Successive layers of this sort form a pyramidal pile with a single sphere resting on top. If the bottom
layer contains 16 spheres, what is the height of the pile in terms of the common radius r of the
spheres?

Acorda, G., et al., (2005). Solid Mensuration (Workbook). Kumintang Ilaya, Batangas City: Feliber Publishing House
nd
Bland, J. R., & Kern W. F. (1938). Solid Mensuration. 2 Edition. John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Solid Mensuration, http://www.math-principles.com
http://www.mathalino.com/reviewer/solid-mensuration-solid-geometry/sphere