Finding the circumference of a spherical circle

928 Views Asked by At

Let $P\in{S^2}\subset\mathbb{R^3}$, a point on the unit sphere. Let there be a spherical circle around $P$ of radius $r<\pi$. Show that the circumference of the spherical circle is $2\pi{\sin{r}}$. And show that the spherical disc bounded by this spherical circle has an area of $2\pi{(1-\cos{r})}$.

For the first part I am aware that what needs to be understood is that a spherical circle lies on a plane in $\mathbb{R^3}$. Then we can consider the circle of intersection, and if we can find this radius, we can find the circumference of the intersection circle (i.e. the spherical circle).

Edit: I now have constructed a triangle, with indices of $P$, the origin of $S^2$ and some point on the spherical circle. The two radial lines have side length 1 with an angle of $r$. from this we can use the cosine rule to find the opposite side length and hopefully find the length of the radius of the circle in $\mathbb{R^3}$.

1

There are 1 best solutions below

2
On BEST ANSWER

You have a good start. In the unit circle you can in fact figure out many of the things you need. This way you get the radius $\sin(r)$ for the circle in $\mathbb{R}$ to calculate the circumference.

enter image description here

The area can be found in some formularies. Alternatively the general formula for surfaces of revolution could be used. The function describing the unit-circle is $f(x) = \sqrt{1-x^2}$ and you want the area of the surface of revolution around the $x$-axis from $\cos(r)$ to $1$. $$ A=\int_{\cos(r)}^{1} f(x) \sqrt{1+f'(x)^2} dx $$ Solving this integral results in the stated area.