Crash Course in Solid Mensuration

Engr. Lorenz E. Borromeo, ChE1,2

1Instructor, Far Eastern University-Institute of Technology

2MS Environmental Engineering (on-going), UP Diliman

Course Outline
• Areas of Plane Figures
• Solids in which Volume = Base x Height
• Solids in which Volume = 1/3 x Base x Height
• Sphere
• Problems
Introduction to Solid Mensuration
• Solid Geometry (also known as Solid Mensuration) is the study of
various solids.
• It is the study of the measure of volume, area, height, length, and
many more.
• This subject is used extensively in the practice of engineering.
The knowledge of this subject is a necessity to engineers in any
project construction.
Solids in which Volume = Base x Height

• This is a group of solids in which the volume is equal to

the product of the area of the base and the altitude.
• Two types of solids belong to this group namely, prisms
and cylinders.
Prism and Cylinder

 A solid is said to be prismatic or cylindrical if every cutting plane parallel to base are the
same in both shape and size.
 If the base is a closed polygon the solid is a prism, whereas, the solid is a cylinder if the
base is a closed loop of a curve line.
Prism
• Prism is a polyhedron in which two faces are equal polygons in
parallel planes, and all other faces are parallelograms.
• Oblique prism is when the axis is not perpendicular to the base
and;
• Right prism if the axis is parallel to the base.
Elements of Prism
Prism Formulas
Common Prisms: Cube and Rectangular
Parallelepiped

• Cube is one of the Platonic

Solids and is called regular
hexahedron. It is a polyhedron
whose six faces are all squares.

Properties of a Cube
• All edges of a cube are equal in
length.
• All faces of the cube are congruent
squares.
Formulas for Cube
Common Prisms: Cube and Rectangular
Parallelepiped
• All faces of rectangular
parallelepiped are rectangles
and two opposite faces are
equal rectangles.

Properties of Rectangular
Parallelepiped
• Parallel edges of rectangular
parallelepiped are equal in length.
• Any two opposite faces of
rectangular parallelepiped are
equal and parallel rectangles.
Formulas for Rectangular Parallelepiped
Example:
• Find the volume and total area of
the largest cube of wood that can
be cut from a log of circular cross
section whose radius is 12.7 inches.
Example:
• In the figure is shown a
rectangular parallelepiped
whose dimensions are 2, 4, 6.
Points A, B, C, E, F, and L are
each at the midpoint of an
edge. Find the area of each of
the sections ABEF, ABC, and
MNL.
Example:
• A tank, open at the top, is
made of sheet iron 1 in. thick.
The internal dimensions of the
tank are 4 ft. 8 in. long; 3 ft. 6
in. wide; 4 ft. 4 in. deep. Find
the weight of the tank when
empty and find the weight
when full of salt water. (Salt
water weighs 64 lb/ft3 and iron
is 7.2 times as heavy as salt
water.)
The Cylinder
• Cylinder is a solid bounded by a closed cylindrical
surface and two parallel planes.
The Cylinder
Properties of a cylinder

• The-cylinder-with-axis-shown. The bounding cylindrical

surface of a cylinder is called the lateral surface, and
the two bounding parallel planes are called the bases.
The area of the lateral surface is denoted by AL and the
area of the base is denoted by Ab.
• The bases of a cylinder are equal.
• The altitude of the cylinder is the perpendicular
distance between the bases. It is denoted by h.
• Every section parallel to the base is equal to the base.
• Axis of the cylinder is the line that connects the
centroids of bases. The length of the axis is equal to
the length of the element, it is denoted as L.
• For right cylinder, the area of the right section is equal
to the area of the base and the length of the axis is
equal to the altitude.
The Cylinder
The Right Circular Cylinder
• A right circular cylinder is a cylinder whose base is a circle
and whose elements are perpendicular to its base.
The Right Circular Cylinder
Example:
• A closed cylindrical tank measures 12 ft. long and 5 ft. in
diameter. It has to contain water to a depth of 3 ft when
lying in the horizontal position. Find the depth of water
when it is in vertical position.
Solids for which volume = 1/3 Area of Base x Altitude
• This is a group of solids in which the volume is equal to one-
third of the product of base area and altitude. There are two
solids that belong to this group; the pyramid and the cone.
Cones
The Right Circular Cone
Regular Pyramid
Similar Figures
Example

• A closed conical vessel has a base radius of 2 m and is 6

m high. When in upright position, the depth of water in the
vessel is 3 m. (a) What is the volume of water? (b) If the
vessel is held in inverted position, how deep is the water?
(c)
The Sphere
• Sphere is a solid bounded by closed surface every point of
which is equidistant from a fixed point called the center.
Spherical Zone
• A zone is that portion of the surface
of the sphere included between two
parallel planes.

Properties of Spherical Zone

• The bases of the zone are the
circumference of the sections made by the
two parallel planes.
• The altitude of the zone is the
perpendicular distance between these two
parallel planes.
• If one of the bounding parallel planes is
tangent to the sphere, the surface bounded
is a zone of one base.
Spherical Zone
Spherical Segment
• Spherical segment is a solid
bounded by two parallel planes
through a sphere. In terms of
spherical zone, spherical segment
is a solid bounded by a zone and
the planes of a zone's bases.
Spherical Segment
Spherical Wedge and Spherical Lune
• A spherical wedge is a solid formed
by revolving a semi-circle about its
diameter by less than 360°.
Spherical Lune is the curve surface
of the wedge, it is a surface formed
by revolving a semi-circular arc
about its diameter by less than
360°.
Spherical Wedge and Spherical Lune
Example

• Find the volume and total

area of the sphere which
circumscribes a cylinder of
revolution whose altitude
and diameter are each 6
inches.
Example
• A layer of equal spheres is in the form of a
square. The spheres are arranged so that
each sphere is tangent to every one adjacent
to it. In the spaces between sets of 4
adjacent spheres, other spheres rest, equal
in size to the original. These spheres form in
turn a second layer on top of the first.
Successive layers of this sort form a
pyramidal pile with a single sphere resting on
top. If the bottom layer contains 16 spheres,
what is the height of the pile in terms of the
common radius r of the spheres?
Example
• Two balls, one 15 cm in
diameter and the other 10 cm
in diameter, are placed in a
cylindrical jar 20 cm in
diameter, as shown. Find the
volume of water necessary to
cover them.
Example:
• A boy who had discovered that
20 mm marbles fitted snugly
into the bottom of a cylindrical
jar, dropped in a fourth on top
of the three and poured water
enough into the jar to just
cover them. How much water
did he use?