Thursday, December 25, 2008
Boring Hole in Sphere Calc Video - Finally!!
Remember when I originally posted this problem back in January? Look here .
Here is the original problem:
A hole is drilled (bored) completely through a solid sphere, symmetrically through its center. If the resulting "hole" is 6 inches in height (or depth), show that the remaining volume must be 36π inches cubed.
OBJECTIVE: Motivation, explanation and application of method of cylindrical shells for finding volume of solid of revolution
TOTAL LENGTH: about 45 min
Please Note: These videos are not intended for students who want quick simple explanations for standard homework or typical exam items. This problem is above that level and the explanations are lengthy and very detailed!
Well, this 'video' is fragmented into 7 parts, the transitions are amateurish, it was composed over a few days (therefore different outfits!), cheap props and the quality is well, you know...
In spite of all the negatives, I'm hoping someone will find this helpful. Remember I'm doing this to cover a broad audience -- the Calc I/II student who wants understanding and clarity (not skipping steps!) to the AP student/Math-Sci-Engineering major who wants some theory and rigor. I'm also demonstrating some aspects of pedagogy here for the new calculus instructor who may have to prepare a similar lesson.
As mentioned in the video, there are many wonderful websites and videos which will provide better graphics, animation and quality. A couple of links are provided below. However, my purpose here to provide a highly detailed development of a classic calculus problem which reviews the method of cylindrical shells for volumes of solids of revolution.
Finally, my original intent was to find the volume that was removed by at least two methods and to generalize to a hole of depth h, but this is way too long as it is! Of course, I don't expect many views or comments but it will be out there for anyone who might have use of this for as long as this blog exists! I'm really hoping comments will look past the low-tech aspect and address the content and pedagogy.
Instructors
Please feel free to share this with your students or for whatever purpose you may have.
As stated above, the total length of all parts is about 45 minutes, the length of a typical hs class period, so it wouldn't make sense for the classroom. You might want to recommend students view this after learning the basic idea of the 'shell' method as reinforcement or after assigning this problem for hw or extra credit. These days students are savvy enough to locate, on the web, solutions and videos to most any problem we assign, so be careful! (You already knew that!)
Some Recommended Links
Volumes of Revolution - Cylindrical Shells
As mentioned in the video, patrickJMT is as good as it gets for clear, simple and mathematically accurate explanations.
Volumes - Cylindrical Shell Method
Wonderful explanations and excellent graphics and animation of the shell method (in Flash) from one of the best calculus sites on the web - utk (U Tenn Knoxville)
There are many other outstanding sites - I apologize in advance for omissions here. Just keep searching until you find the one that works for you!
As always, I am responsible for any errors - don't hesitate to point them out! At least we made it before XMAS 2008 ended!
The videos below are connected, so you might want to watch them in sequence.
However, the actual solution to the problem starts in the 5th segment below.
Read the descriptions of the segments to guide you in deciding where to begin. If you do not want a lengthy introduction, and already know the shell method, skip down to the 5th clip.
These first two video clips provide an overview for what I intend to cover.
Also the key relationship R2 - r2 = 9 is developed.
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These next two segments motivate and derive the method of cylindrical shells.
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The actual solution to the problem starts below!
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Yes folks I know how drawn out this all was. I will try to improve on these but I will take an hiatus from my busy movie production schedule for awhile!
Happy New Year!
Posted by Dave Marain at 2:18 PM 3 comments
Labels: calculus, hole in sphere problem, method of shells, video lesson, volume