December 23, 2024 · 3:45 am

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Volume of Revolution – Method One (Disc or Washer Method)

If we rotate this line segment around the $x-$ axis, we generate a three dimensional solid.

We are going to find the volume of this solid.

This is a better view of the solid

Consider a small section of the line segment and rotate this about the $x-$ axis.

As the width of the section $(\delta x)$ gets smaller (i.e. $\rightarrow 0$ ), the solid is a cylinder.

The radius of the cylinder is $f(x)$ and the height of the cylinder is $\delta x$ .

The volume of a cylinder is $V=\pi r^2 h$

Hence the volume of our section is

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi[f(x)]^2\delta x\end{equation}$

If we divide our line segment into a large number of cylinders (of equal height) then,

$\begin{equation*}V=\Sigma_a^b(\pi [f(x)]^2\delta x\end{equation}$

where $a$ is the lower $x$ value and $b$ the upper.

Now we want $\delta x\rightarrow 0$ so $V=\lim\limits_{\delta x \to 0} \Sigma_a^b(\pi [f(x)]^2\delta x$

Which is

$\begin{equation*}V=\int_a^b \pi [f(x)]^2 dx\end{equation}$

Example

The curve $y=\sqrt{x-1}$ , where $2\le x\le5$ is rotated about the $x-$ axis to form a solid of revolution. Find the volume of this solid.

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi \int_2^5( y^2 dx)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi \int_2^5 x-1 \space dx \end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi (\frac{x^2}{2}-x]_2^5)\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\pi(\frac{25}{2}-5-(\frac{4}{2}-2))\end{equation}$

$\begin{equation*}V=\frac{15 \pi}{2}\end{equation}$

Filed under Integration, Volume of Revolution, Year 12 Specialist Mathematics

Tagged as Disc method, Integration, volume, Volume of revolution

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