A zorb is a large sphere made out of transparent plastic, in which a rider can roll downhill.
A certain zorb has a circumference of 9 m . Within this special zorb, two layers of fabric are present to protect the rider. The outer one is shaped into a cube, with each of its vertices attached to the edge of the outside, spherical layer. Like the outermost layer, the innermost one is also shaped into a sphere, with its fabric attached tangentially to each of the cube's six faces.
If the volume of the inner sphere can be expressed in the form C π C A B m 3
where A , B and C are integers with B square-free, find A + B + C .
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D i a m e t e r o f t h e o u t e r s p h e r e = π 9 = D i a g o n a l o f t h e c u b e . S i d e o f t h e c u b e = 3 1 ∗ π 9 . V o l u m e o f i n n e r s p h e r e = 3 4 ∗ π ∗ ( 2 1 ∗ 3 1 ∗ π 9 . ) 3 = 3 4 ∗ π ∗ 8 1 ∗ 3 3 1 ∗ π 3 9 3 = 2 1 ∗ 9 3 1 ∗ π 2 9 ∗ 8 1 = 2 1 ∗ 3 3 ∗ π 2 8 1 = 2 1 ∗ 3 ∗ π 2 2 7 = C ∗ π C B ∗ A A + B + C = 2 7 + 3 + 2 = 3 2
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If the Zorb's outer sphere has a circumference of 9 meters, then 2 π R = 9 ⇒ R = 2 π 9 . This same sphere is modeled as:
x 2 + y 2 + z 2 = ( 2 π 9 ) 2 (i).
If the inner cube has side length s and its center is coincident with the outer sphere, then applying the planes z = ± 2 s into (i) yields the circular plane section:
x 2 + y 2 = ( 2 π 9 ) 2 − ( 2 s ) 2 (ii)
and solving for the cube's side length can be determined by the following Pythagorean relationship:
( 2 s ) 2 + ( 2 s ) 2 = ( 2 π 9 ) 2 ⇒ 4 3 s 2 = ( 2 π 9 ) 2 ⇒ s = π 3 9 (iii)
The inner-sphere has radius r = 2 s as it is tangent with all six sides of the inner cube. The volume computes to:
V = 3 4 π r 3 = 3 4 π ⋅ ( 2 π 3 9 ) 3 = 2 π 2 2 7 3 .
Hence, our desired final sum is 2 7 + 3 + 2 = 3 2 .