Hello all
I have been set a task of calculating the weight of a solid steel cylinder and my answer seems wrong compared to others . the cylinder is 1.4 meters dia. and 12 meters long the density of the steel is 7.85t
I calculated as below
Pie 3.142 x 0.7 x12 = 26.3928 26.3928 x 7.85 = 207,183 tons
but others get.
3.142 x 0.7 x 12 =18.47 18.47 x 7.85 = 145 tons
the 145 ton weight seems to tally with most other online calculating tools what am i doing wrong
Thanks in advance
The area of the circular end is Pi times the radius SQUARED = 3.14 x 0.7 x 0.7.
The volume of the cylinder is the area of the end multiplied by its length = 3.14 x 0.7 x 0.7 x 12.
The mass of the cylinder equals its volume times its density = 3.14 x 0.7 x 0.7 x 12 x 7.85 = 145 tonnes.
So you've made TWO errors:
Firstly, you forgot to square the radius when finding the area of a circle.
Secondly, you've failed to check the 'reasonableness' of the second part of your calculation. You shouldn't need a calculator to realise that 26-and-a-bit multiplied by 7-and-a-bit can't come anywhere close to over 200,000!
Gizmonster //I assumed that the OP just made a typo when they wrote 207,183 and that they meant to write 207.183//
Be careful with such assumptions. There are many regions, particularly in Europe, where the decimal character is the comma and the thousands separator is the stop.