There are 33 NRICH Mathematical resources connected to Spheres, cylinders and cones, you may find related items under 3D geometry, shape and space.
Broad Topics > 3D geometry, shape and space > Spheres, cylinders and cones
In Fill Me Up we invited you to sketch graphs as vessels are filled with water. Can you work out the equations of the graphs?
Various solids are lowered into a beaker of water. How does the water level rise in each case?
A plastic funnel is used to pour liquids through narrow apertures. What shape funnel would use the least amount of plastic to manufacture for any specific volume ?
An aluminium can contains 330 ml of cola. If the can's diameter is 6 cm what is the can's height?
Use a single sheet of A4 paper and make a cylinder having the greatest possible volume. The cylinder must be closed off by a circle at each end.
You have been given three shapes made out of sponge: a sphere, a cylinder and a cone. Your challenge is to find out how to cut them to make different shapes for printing.
Can Jo make a gym bag for her trainers from the piece of fabric she has?
What shapes should Elly cut out to make a witch's hat? How can she make a taller hat?
What shape would fit your pens and pencils best? How can you make it?
An activity for high-attaining learners which involves making a new cylinder from a cardboard tube.
Proofs that there are only seven frieze patterns involve complicated group theory. The symmetries of a cylinder provide an easier approach.
This task develops spatial reasoning skills. By framing and asking questions a member of the team has to find out what mathematical object they have chosen.
A look at different crystal lattice structures, and how they relate to structural properties
What 3D shapes occur in nature. How efficiently can you pack these shapes together?
Bilbo goes on an adventure, before arriving back home. Using the information given about his journey, can you work out where Bilbo lives?
How do we measure curvature? Find out about curvature on soccer and rugby balls and on surfaces of negative curvature like banana skins.
Shows that Pythagoras for Spherical Triangles reduces to Pythagoras's Theorem in the plane when the triangles are small relative to the radius of the sphere.
Prove Pythagoras' Theorem for right-angled spherical triangles.
Use simple trigonometry to calculate the distance along the flight path from London to Sydney.
How much peel does an apple have?
What's the most efficient proportion for a 1 litre tin of paint?
Find the distance of the shortest air route at an altitude of 6000 metres between London and Cape Town given the latitudes and longitudes. A simple application of scalar products of vectors.
A spherical balloon lies inside a wire frame. How much do you need to deflate it to remove it from the frame if it remains a sphere?
A right circular cone is filled with liquid to a depth of half its vertical height. The cone is inverted. How high up the vertical height of the cone will the liquid rise?
The interplay between the two and three dimensional Euclidean geometry of conic sections is explored in this article. Suitable for students from 16+, teachers and parents.
This article outlines the underlying axioms of spherical geometry giving a simple proof that the sum of the angles of a triangle on the surface of a unit sphere is equal to pi plus the area of the triangle.
Imagine two identical cylindrical pipes meeting at right angles and think about the shape of the space which belongs to both pipes. Early Chinese mathematicians call this shape the mouhefanggai.
These formulae are often quoted, but rarely proved. In this article, we derive the formulae for the volumes of a square-based pyramid and a cone, using relatively simple mathematical concepts.
What is the shortest distance through the middle of a dodecahedron between the centres of two opposite faces?
What is the volume of the solid formed by rotating this right angled triangle about the hypotenuse?
A circle has centre O and angle POR = angle QOR. Construct tangents at P and Q meeting at T. Draw a circle with diameter OT. Do P and Q lie inside, or on, or outside this circle?
If a ball is rolled into the corner of a room how far is its centre from the corner?
Two circles of equal size intersect and the centre of each circle is on the circumference of the other. What is the area of the intersection? Now imagine that the diagram represents two spheres of equal volume with the centre of each sphere on the surface of the other. What is the volume of intersection?