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Rate of rise of water level in a cylindrical tank

A cylindrical water tank has a fixed radius of 22 m. Water is pumped into the tank at a constant rate of 44 m3^3/min.

Let hh be the depth of the water in the tank (in meters) at time tt (in minutes), and let VV be the volume of water in the tank at time tt. The tank has a constant radius of 22 m, and water is poured in at a rate of 44 m3^3/min.

Set up an equation relating VV and hh, differentiate with respect to tt, and use it to find dhdt\dfrac{dh}{dt}, the rate at which the water level is rising. (Note that since the radius is constant, this rate is the same at every water level.)

Hint

Start with the volume formula for a cylinder, V=πr2hV = \pi r^2 h, treating rr as a constant since the tank's radius doesn't change. Differentiate both sides with respect to tt, then substitute the known value of dVdt\dfrac{dV}{dt}.

Step-by-step solution

The volume of water in a cylindrical tank of radius rr and water depth hh is V=πr2h.V = \pi r^2 h. Since the radius r=2r = 2 m is constant for this tank, differentiating both sides with respect to tt using the chain rule gives dVdt=πr2dhdt,\frac{dV}{dt} = \pi r^2 \frac{dh}{dt}, where r2r^2 stays fixed because rr does not change over time.

We are given dVdt=4\dfrac{dV}{dt} = 4 m3^3/min and r=2r = 2 m, so r2=4r^2 = 4. Substituting into dVdt=πr2dhdt\dfrac{dV}{dt} = \pi r^2 \dfrac{dh}{dt} gives 4=π(4)dhdt  ⟹  dhdt=44π=1π.4 = \pi (4) \frac{dh}{dt} \implies \frac{dh}{dt} = \frac{4}{4\pi} = \frac{1}{\pi}. So the water level rises at a rate of 1π\dfrac{1}{\pi} m/min, approximately 0.3180.318 m/min.

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