17 May 2012 Exploration: Surface area of water ina tilted cylinder In this exploration, I will explain how tilting a cylinder affects the surface area of water inside the cylinder. Given the stimulus word “water”, I started looking into aspects of water that involved modeling and real-world application, because I prefer to work with real ideas rather than abstract concepts. I first became interested in this topic when I noticed that tipping a glass of water caused the water to “spread out” parallel to the ground, and the surface area increased. At first, I wanted to investigate changing several variables, such as how the angle of the cup’s walls affected the surface area of the water as the cup tipped, but it quickly became apparent that that topic would be much too big for a single exploration, 1 simplified the concept down to an upright cylinder, whose sides were perpendicular to its circular base To determine the formula that related the angle between the side of the cylinder and the ground to the area of the ellipse created by the surface area of the water inside the cylinder, 1 first used well-known trigonometric angles, and looked for a pattern. The diagram below (Figure 1) demonstrates where each of the variables is used: Figure 11r= radius of the cylinder (independent variable) = distance along the side of the cylinder from each of the extremes of the ellipse formed by the surface of the water in the cylinder (dependent variable) = changing angle (independent variable) = 0 (using parallel lines) = 90°- a (using properties of a triangle) Note: Figure / is color-coded. For example, each segment that is green is the same length. The relationship between @, m, and r is as follows: m=r/sind Table 1 ae) sin 0 m rin 0 30 a ar ar i 45 = a rv2 v2 60 fa 23 arv3 90. 1 F r Looking at the model, this makes sense. If I take just the right triangle formed with the sides h, 2r, and 2m: 2m 2r Figure 2 As shown by Figure 2, above, sin a = 2r/2m = r/m. Therefore, m = (using parallel lines, as seen in Figure 1), m = r/sin 8. ‘sin a. Since a=0‘The equation for an ellipse is: ‘mis the longer of the two axes, because mis the axis being stretched, while r remains constant. The minimum value for m is equal to r. ris the radius of the eylinder. Making y the subject of the formula: To find the area of the ellipse, integrate the equation with respect to x (see Figure 3): r A= fra= [acm Fax Notice that the area of an ellipse centered at the origin is equal to 4 times the area of the integral of the equation in the first quadrant. Therefore, since x = m is the x-intercept in the first quadrant: eT: anal — m2 =x? dx im rm af Vim? =x? dx 0 (As seen in Figure 4, below) ALet x =m sin g. Therefore, dx = m cos g do, and the limits of integration change: O=msing m= msing 0-0 o=w2 A 4 [me = Gn sing)? (moos) dg md z A= anf mT= Ging)? (meosy) dp 0 rz af mcospeospyidy 0 z A= arm [ (cosy)? dp 0 , this can be substituted: Since (cos 8)? = aate 21+ cos2p A= arm [ ae up eeeEEe2 4 Ae arm f 1+ cos2pdp 0 1 iF A= 2rm[p + Fsin29| 2 0 A= 2rm|(5+ finn) - (0+ 350) A= arm|[(S+ 0)- (0+ 0) A= arm(S) A= armAssuming that is true, the surface area of the water relative to angle 0 would be: A= nmr r A= (5) mr? A When 0 = 0°, there is a divide-by-zero error, because sin (0°) = 0. This makes sense in the context of the application: When the cylinder is flat on its side, the water will flow out of the cylinder. Itis important to note that this model assumes that the thickness of the edges of the cylinder itself is negligible. Of course, the angle @ would have to be calculated between a tangent to the bottommost comer of the cylinder which is parallel to the ground and the interior line of the side of the cylinder, rather than simply between the ground and the outside edge of the cylinder. Another significant limitation is that this particular formula only works if the cylinder is a right cylinder with a circular base. If the sides of the cylinder are askew, or tilted in any way, or if the base is elliptical, this formula no longer produces accurate results. Itis interesting to note that if the cylinder is tilted past 90° and the angle @ becomes obtuse, the formula still works. Because the sine function gives positive results for all values of 0 greater than 0° and less than 180°, the surface area produced by the formula is still accurate ‘This is observable because if the cylinder is tipped left instead of right (as seen above in Figure 1), the surface area is the same for the acute angle and the same angle reflected over 90°. It doesn’t matter which way the cylinder is tipped, the surface area is the same for the angle. Below (in Table 2) are some example values using the formula: Table 2 radius of Surf: f th te 0(°) | the cylinder sing | SUrfCe area of the water in the cylinder (em?) (cm) 1 30 10 5 200% i 30 20 2 8000 30 30 4 18002 1 30 40 2 3200,30 50 z 000% i (2= 45 10 b 100m x V2 = 141.4 4s 20 A 400n x V2 = 565.7 45 30 gh | 900nx \2= 1272.8 45 40 4 1600n x V2 = 2262.7 45 50 Bo | 250m 12 =3535.5x 60 10 2 200m / V3 = 115.5x 60 20 = 800n/ V3 = 461.9% 60 30 Z| 18000 / v3 = 1039.28 60 40 2 3200x / V3 = 1847.51 60 30 x 5000n / V3 = 2886.8 90 10 1 1000 90 20 1 4007 90 30 1 900m 90 40 1 16002 90 30 1 2500 120 10 } 200m 120 20 4 8007 120 30 : 1800 120 40 4 3200 120 50 4 5000a 135, 10 1 100 x V2 = 141.4n v2 135 20 s 400x x V2 = 565.7 135 30 4 900m x V2 = 1272.8x 135 40 Bo | 1e00n x 2 = 2262.78 135 50 fh | 2500n x2 = 3535.5150 10 : 200n / V3 = 115.5 150 20 2 800x/ V3 = 461.9" 150 30 2 1800z / V3 = 1039.2n 150 40 FA 3200n / V3 = 1847.5x. 150 50 3 5000n / V3 = 2886.8 Note that the values for 0 are the same as the values for 180° - 0, because sin = sin (180° - 0) The values in Table 2 are only listed as accurate to one decimal place because having more than that seemed excessive, and hinders the readability of the table. This same concept can be applied to containers that have other bases than just a circle. For example, the surface area of the water in a square-based container could be calculated using similar values. Instead of 2r representing the minor axis of the ellipse and 2m representing the major axis of the ellipse, they can be re lengths of a rectangle, respectively, as shown in Figure 5, below. Figure 5 red to represent the minor and major sideUsing a similar formula to that of the cylinder, we can see that the relationship between 6, m, and r is as follows: m=risin Hence, we can calculate the surface area of the water in the container. Since it is known that the area of a rectangle is A = bh, and we can see from Figure 5 that b= 2m and h =2r, the surface area of the water can be calculated to be: A=bh A=(2m\2r) A=4mr : 4=4(S)0 4r? sind tis important to note that similar limitations apply to this formula as to the formula for the cylindrical container. 1 found this topic very stimulating, because it is something that I can see for myself by tipping a can of water on its edge. I am always i new ways to apply mathematics to the real world, because often, interesting patterns can be drawn from the data. Finding new ways to connect trigonometry to such an everyday thing as water in a can is fascinating to me, and I will continue to look for potential opportunities for this focus area to be applied.iz. "Calculating the Surface Area of the Water in A Rolling Cylinder and Visualization as Two and Three jensional by Means of Geogebra." Hup:/[Link]/. Intemational Journal of Computer Applications (0975 8887) Volume 25- No.l, July 2011, July 2011, Web. 16 Mar. 2012. <. "Equation of an Ellipse." In Standard Form and How It Relates to the Graph of the Ellipse. Math Warehouse. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. . Su, Francis E, "Area of an Ellipse.” Mudd Math Fun Facts. Harvey Mudd College Math Department, 1999-2010. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. . “Area of an Ellipse." Area of an Ellipse, Formula and Example. Math Warehouse. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. . "Area of an Ellipse." UCSD. Web. 21 Apr. 2012. <<[Link] | Ob/area_ellipse. htm>.