I have been given these instructions:
- Cut out sector from a circle having central angle $\theta$ and radius r
- Form a cone from what's left of the circle (I thought of it as taking a circular piece of paper, cutting a pizza shape out of it, then push the rest of the paper together to make a cone)
- Then find volume of the cone in terms of $\theta$
These are the things I've done so far:
- Found the circumference of the cone by subtracting r $\theta$ from 2$\pi$r
- Subtracted the area of the cut sector from the area of a whole circle
Now I am lost, I have a feeling that finding the radius in terms of $\theta$ is the next step I should take.
How can I do this?
Best Answer
The angle of the sector not taken is $2\pi-\theta$. The length of the circular arc with central angle $2\pi-\theta$ radians and radius $r$ is $r(2\pi-\theta)=2\pi r-\theta r$ (by the definition of radian measure). When you form the cone, this will be the circumference of the circle at the base of the cone. The radius of that circle is $\frac{2\pi r-\theta r}{2\pi}=r\left(1-\frac{\theta}{2\pi}\right)$ (call it $R$).
The "slant height" of the cone is the radius of the original circle, $r$, and is the hypotenuse of a right triangle with base $R=r\left(1-\frac{\theta}{2\pi}\right)$ and height $h$ (let's say). Therefore
$$h=\sqrt{r^2-\left[ r\left(1-\frac{\theta}{2\pi}\right) \right]^2}$$ $$=r\sqrt{\frac{\theta}{\pi}-\frac{\theta^2}{4\pi^2}}$$
Therefore the volume of the cone will be
$$V=\frac 13\pi R^2h=\frac 13\pi\left[r\left(1-\frac{\theta}{2\pi}\right)\right]^2\left[r\sqrt{\frac{\theta}{\pi}-\frac{\theta^2}{4\pi^2}}\right]$$ $$=\frac 13\pi r^3\left(1-\frac{\theta}{2\pi}\right)^2\left(\sqrt{\frac{\theta}{\pi}-\frac{\theta^2}{4\pi^2}}\right)$$
You could simplify that further, as you like.
Note that the answer would have been significantly easier if you defined $\theta$ to be the central angle of the sector left after cutting rather than of the sector that was cut. If we define $\Theta$ as that central angle that was left, we end up with
$$V=\frac 13\pi r^3\left(\frac{\Theta}{2\pi}\right)^2 \sqrt{1-\left(\frac{\Theta}{2\pi}\right)^2}$$