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EXAMPLES FOR EXAM II Sections 12.4 and 12.5

If it is not already on your hard drive, you will need to download the free DPGraph Viewer to view some of the pictures linked to on this page.   QuickTime 7 free download.

 

Powerpoint Introduction to Sections 12.4 and 12.5

 

Hints for Section 12.5 Homework Problem 10 in WebAssign  

 

SphereAndParaboloid1     SphereAndParaboloid2    SphereParaboloidAnimation

 

A sphere of radius 4 is dropped into the paraboloid given by z = x2 + y2.

 

(a)  How close will the sphere come to the vertex of the paraboloid?

 

(b)  What is the radius of the largest sphere that will touch the vertex?

In SphereAndParaboloid1 the value for "a" gives the z-coordinate of the center of the sphere.  By activating "a" on the scrollbar you can "scroll a" to move the sphere to the position where it will rest against the inside of the paraboloid.  The resulting value of "a" can be used to determine how close the bottom of the sphere comes to the vertex of the paraboloid.  It can also be fun to look at "X slice" or "Y slice" on the scrollbar.  This can show you a picture of a cross section (circle and parabola).  You might want to change the background color to white and the object color to blue.  Here is a Quicktime animation of the sphere and paraboloid ("A" gives the z-coordinate of the center of the sphere) and a Quicktime animation of a cross section, a circle and parabola, ("a" gives the y-coordinate of the center of the circle) that also includes the largest circle that could rest at the vertex of the parabola (part b, largest sphere to rest at the vertex of the paraboloid).  Here is the Maple worksheet used to create the Quicktime animations.

 

In SphereAndParaboloid2 the value for "b" gives the radius of the sphere.  By activating "b" on the scrollbar you can "scroll b" to change the radius of the sphere.  The value for "a" again gives the z-coordinate of the center of the sphere.  By activating "a" on the scrollbar you can "scroll a" to move the sphere up and down.  Thus by changing "a" and "b" you can attempt to visually estimate the radius of the largest sphere that will rest inside the paraboloid at its vertex.

 

In SphereParaboloidAnimation you can see an animated sphere of radius 4 dropping into the z = x2 + y2 paraboloid as far as it will go, "bouncing back up" and then dropping back down again and repeating this over and over.  You might want to turn off the animated colorization by changing the color to one color (blue works well).

 

For Extra Credit analytically prove the results that could be obtained visually in the DPGraphs above.

 

Finding a Line Tangent to a Space Curve

Click on the picture to see an animation.

Larger Picture

 


   
Finding v, a, T, N, k

Click on the picture above to see an animation.  The velocity vector is in green, acceleration vector in red, and the principle unit normal vector in purple.  Notice the relationship between a(t) and N(t) as t gets larger.  Can you see analytically why this is happening?

Quicktime animation of the picture above

 


 
Finding T, N, k, aN, aT

Note that since we are working in R2 we could have narrowed down the possibilities for N(t) to two based on N(t) being orthogonal to T(t) and then determined N(t) if we knew enough about the concavity of r(t) (N is in the "direction of concavity").  So we could determine N from T if the nature of the graph at the right was known to us.

The figure below shows the velocity vectors (green) and acceleration vectors (red) at t = -1, t = 0, and t = 1 along the path described by the vector valued function r(t) = <t,4-t2>.  Click on the picture to see an animation that will also include the principal unit normal vector N (magenta).

 .

 

 


 
Finding T, N, k, aN, aT

 


 
Arc Length Example

Find the length of the curve described by r(t) = < t , t2 , t3 -3t2 + 2t > over the t interval [0,2].  See the figure at the right (click to spin).  In the figure the arc (blue) is being approximated by four line segments (red).

Maple Worksheet showing line segment approximations and pictures

Quicktime animation showing approximations using 4, 8, 12, 16, 20, 24, 28, 32 line segments

                

We could approximate the arc length by adding the lengths of the four approximating red line segments.

 


 

Arc Length Example

 

Find the arc length of the given curve over the given interval.  This would be one fundamental period of the basic sine function.

 

 

Excel Picture of the 16 Approximating Line Segments

Quicktime Animation showing 4, 6, 8, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48 approximating line segments

Maple Worksheet

Approximating the arc length using 8 equal length subintervals yields an approximation of about 7.58.

 


 

Roller Coaster Problem

 

The position function r(t) = < 10sin(2t) , 10cos(2t) , 3t >, t going from 0 to 4pi, describes part of the motion of a roller coaster car along a spiral track at an amusement park (the path back to the bottom of the ride is not being described here).  The mass of the roller coaster car is 400kg, distance is in meters, and time in seconds.  Find the force along N required to keep the roller coaster car on its path.

 

There is more than one way to do this so I will find more than is necessary.

 

 


 
Ferris Wheel Problem

A circular Ferris wheel has a radius of 20 feet.  The center of the Ferris wheel is 26 feet above the ground.  There is one hanging seat hooked up and this seat always hangs straight down 4 feet from a point on the circumference of the Ferris wheel.  When running the Ferris wheel makes one revolution every 20 seconds and turns counterclockwise.  Construct a position function for the point at the bottom of the hanging seat (the point always 4 feet directly below a point on the circumference of the Ferris wheel).  In doing this assume the Ferris wheel reaches full speed in less than 1/4 revolution and model your position function such that the point on the circumference of the Ferris wheel directly above the hanging seat is at three o'clock at time t = 0.  From your position function find a velocity function for the point on the bottom of the hanging seat.  With the Ferris wheel at full speed, find the magnitude of the velocity of the point on the bottom of the hanging seat 5/3 seconds after it reaches its lowest point.  What is its lowest point?  Click here to see an animation.

Solution

The path of the point will be a circle with a radius of 20 feet and a center that is 22 feet above the ground.  The lowest point on this circle will be 2 feet above the ground.  Take the ground to be at y = 0 and introduce an xy-coordinate system such that the center of the circular path to be described is at (0,22).  Thus the equation of the path in rectangular coordinates is

Now we need to find A such that the point completes one revolution in 20 seconds.  To do this we need the fundamental period of cos(At) and sin(At) to be 20.  The fundamental period of cos(At) is

 


 
Circle of Curvature

Find the curvature, radius of curvature, center of the circle of curvature, and equation of the circle of curvature at the point (0,0) on the graph of the function given below.

The radius of curvature at (0,0) is 1/2.  To find the center of curvature we must go 1/2 unit from (0,0) in the direction of N.  In this case that would be 1/2 unit straight up to the point (0,1/2).  Using the standard form for the equation of a circle

we find that the equation of the circle of curvature is

For extra credit you may find the curvature, center of curvature, and equation of the circle of curvature at the point (1,1) on the graph of the same parabola (see the figures below).  Click here for an animation of many of the circles of curvature for this parabola and click here for the same animation but also showing the changing radius of curvature.  Quicktime Version

 


 
Circle of Curvature

Find the curvature, radius of curvature, center of the circle of curvature, and equation of the circle of curvature at the point (1,1/6) on the graph of the function given below.

Click the Picture for an Animation

 


 

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        Lane Vosbury, Mathematics, Seminole State College   email:  vosburyl@seminolestate.edu

        This page was last updated on 08/21/14          Copyright 2002          webstats