A hemispherical goldfish tank with radius 15 cm (as shown in the figure above) was initially filled with water. The tank has a defect and water is leaking at a constant rate of 20 cm^3 per min. The volume of water in the tank is given by V=π3(45h2−h3),V = \frac{\pi}{3}\left(45h^2 - h^3\right), where hh is the depth of water at the centre of the tank in cm.

  1. (a)

    Show that rr, the radius of the water surface in cm, is given by r=30h−h2r = \sqrt{30h - h^2}.

  2. (b)

    Given that the minimum depth of water needed for the goldfish to survive is 5 cm, find, at this instant,

    1. (i)

      the rate of change of the depth of water,

    2. (ii)

      the rate of decrease of the radius of the water surface.

Work through it with AI →

It won't just hand you the answer — it asks where you're stuck.How the checker works

Worked solution

1(a)

1. Apply Pythagoras' theorem to the right-angled triangle formed by the water surface radius, the vertical distance to the tank's centre, and the tank's radius.

r2+(15−h)2=152r^2 + (15 - h)^2 = 15^2

2. Expand the squared expression and make $r$ the subject.

r2+225−30h+h2=225r^2 + 225 - 30h + h^2 = 225
r2=30h−h2r^2 = 30h - h^2

Since rr represents a length, r>0r > 0, therefore:
r=30h−h2(shown)r = \sqrt{30h - h^2} \quad \text{(shown)}

Answer

r=30h−h2r = \sqrt{30h - h^2} (shown)

1(b)(i)

1. Differentiate the given volume $V$ with respect to the depth $h$.

V=π3(45h2−h3)V = \frac{\pi}{3}\left(45h^2 - h^3\right)
dVdh=π3(90h−3h2)=π(30h−h2)\frac{dV}{dh} = \frac{\pi}{3}\left(90h - 3h^2\right) = \pi(30h - h^2)

2. Apply the chain rule to find the rate of change of depth when $h=5$.

By the chain rule, dVdt=dVdh×dhdt\frac{dV}{dt} = \frac{dV}{dh} \times \frac{dh}{dt}.
Since water is leaking at 20 cm3/min20 \text{ cm}^3/\text{min}, dVdt=−20\frac{dV}{dt} = -20.
When h=5h = 5,
dVdh=π(30(5)−52)=125π\frac{dV}{dh} = \pi(30(5) - 5^2) = 125\pi
Substitute the values into the chain rule:
−20=125π×dhdt-20 = 125\pi \times \frac{dh}{dt}
dhdt=−20125π=−425π≈−0.0509 cm/min\frac{dh}{dt} = -\frac{20}{125\pi} = -\frac{4}{25\pi} \approx -0.0509 \text{ cm/min}

Answer

−425π-\frac{4}{25\pi} cm/min (or ≈−0.0509\approx -0.0509 cm/min)

1(b)(ii)

1. Calculate $\frac{dh}{dt}$ at $h = 5$ (dependency from part (b)(i))

V=π3(45h2−h3)V = \frac{\pi}{3}(45h^2 - h^3)
dVdh=π(30h−h2)\frac{dV}{dh} = \pi(30h - h^2)
When h=5h = 5, dVdh=π(30(5)−52)=125π\frac{dV}{dh} = \pi(30(5) - 5^2) = 125\pi.
Given dVdt=−20\frac{dV}{dt} = -20, using the chain rule dVdt=dVdh×dhdt\frac{dV}{dt} = \frac{dV}{dh} \times \frac{dh}{dt}:
−20=125π×dhdt  ⟹  dhdt=−425π-20 = 125\pi \times \frac{dh}{dt} \implies \frac{dh}{dt} = -\frac{4}{25\pi}

2. Differentiate the radius $r$ with respect to $h$ and evaluate at $h = 5$

From part (a), r=(30h−h2)12r = (30h - h^2)^{\frac{1}{2}}.
drdh=12(30h−h2)−12(30−2h)=15−h30h−h2\frac{dr}{dh} = \frac{1}{2}(30h - h^2)^{-\frac{1}{2}}(30 - 2h) = \frac{15 - h}{\sqrt{30h - h^2}}
When h=5h = 5:
drdh=15−530(5)−52=10125=1055=25\frac{dr}{dh} = \frac{15 - 5}{\sqrt{30(5) - 5^2}} = \frac{10}{\sqrt{125}} = \frac{10}{5\sqrt{5}} = \frac{2}{\sqrt{5}}

3. Calculate the rate of decrease of the radius $r$

Using the chain rule for connected rates of change:
drdt=drdh×dhdt\frac{dr}{dt} = \frac{dr}{dh} \times \frac{dh}{dt}
drdt=(25)(−425π)=−8255π\frac{dr}{dt} = \left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{5}}\right) \left(-\frac{4}{25\pi}\right) = -\frac{8}{25\sqrt{5}\pi}
Rationalising the denominator gives −85125π-\frac{8\sqrt{5}}{125\pi}.
Since the question asks for the rate of decrease, we drop the negative sign.
Rate of decrease =85125π≈0.0456 cm/min= \frac{8\sqrt{5}}{125\pi} \approx 0.0456 \text{ cm/min}

Answer

85125π\frac{8\sqrt{5}}{125\pi} cm/min (or 0.04560.0456 cm/min)

AI analysis — may contain mistakes.

Worked this one out on paper? Snap your steps and Gigle's AI math checker will circle the step where it went wrong.

More questions on this topic

  1. 1A drilling company plans to install a straight pipeline ABAB through a mountain. Points (x,y,z)(x, y, z) are defined relative…
  2. 2NJC JC1 Promo 9758/2019/Q6 A vessel is formed by removing a smaller cone of radius 5 m from a bigger cone whose semi-ver…
  3. 3[The surface area and volume of a sphere are given by 4πr24\pi r^2 and 43πr3\dfrac{4}{3}\pi r^3 respectively.] An aquarist wh…
  4. 4Fig. 1 shows a piece of card, ABCDABCD, in the form of a rhombus of sides aa cm. The card is made up of 2 identical equil…
  5. 5The diagram shows a V-shaped tank with dimensions L=4 mL = 4\text{ m}, W=0.6 mW = 0.6\text{ m} and H=0.7 mH = 0.7\text{ m}. The tank…