What is Radius: Definition and 1000 Discussions

In classical geometry, a radius of a circle or sphere is any of the line segments from its center to its perimeter, and in more modern usage, it is also their length. The name comes from the Latin radius, meaning ray but also the spoke of a chariot wheel. The plural of radius can be either radii (from the Latin plural) or the conventional English plural radiuses. The typical abbreviation and mathematical variable name for radius is r. By extension, the diameter d is defined as twice the radius:




d

2
r



r
=


d
2


.


{\displaystyle d\doteq 2r\quad \Rightarrow \quad r={\frac {d}{2}}.}
If an object does not have a center, the term may refer to its circumradius, the radius of its circumscribed circle or circumscribed sphere. In either case, the radius may be more than half the diameter, which is usually defined as the maximum distance between any two points of the figure. The inradius of a geometric figure is usually the radius of the largest circle or sphere contained in it. The inner radius of a ring, tube or other hollow object is the radius of its cavity.
For regular polygons, the radius is the same as its circumradius. The inradius of a regular polygon is also called apothem. In graph theory, the radius of a graph is the minimum over all vertices u of the maximum distance from u to any other vertex of the graph.The radius of the circle with perimeter (circumference) C is




r
=


C

2
π



.


{\displaystyle r={\frac {C}{2\pi }}.}

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  1. D

    [Optics] Concave-Convex lens radius

    Hi, I'm trying to solve the following problem: "What is the optical power (in dioptres) of a concave-convex eyeglass lens (n = 1.5) with the radiuses r1 = 12cm and r2 = 18cm?" The attempt at a solution: I'm usually solving such questions with the following equation: ## \dfrac{1}{f} =...
  2. Teemo

    Which Isoelectronic Ions Have the Most Similar Radii?

    Homework Statement 45. Consider the ions Li+, Na+, Be2+, and Mg2+. Which two are closest to one another in size? (A) Li+ and Na+ (B) Be2+ and Mg2+ (C) Be2+ and Li+ (D) Li+ and Mg2+ Homework Equations N/A The Attempt at a Solution I thought it wouldn't be A, B, or D due to the pairs having...
  3. R

    Radius relation to centripetal force

    Homework Statement The radius for the inside of a curve is half the radius for the outside. With 2 cars of equal mass, car A travels on the inside and car B travels on the outside at equal speed. Which statement is correct? a. The force on A is half the force on B b. The force on B is half the...
  4. avito009

    Lesser the radius the lesser the volume. Why?

    If we take two planets One Earth and another one with half the radius of Earth. The planet with half the radius has lesser than half of the volume of the Earth. Also given that mass is half. Why? Is it because lower radius and lesser mass means lesser gravity and lesser gravity can pull lesser...
  5. ChrisVer

    Calculating Radius of Crater from Meteor Impact

    When a stellar object falls into the Earth's surface, it creates a crater on the ground. Most of the times, when people refer to these things, they refer to their age and their diameter/radius. My question is mainly about the radius. Is there a dynamical way to solve for the shape and radius of...
  6. R

    What is the Maximum Radius for a Bucket of Water in Circular Motion?

    Homework Statement A 3.75 kg bucket pile of water is swung in a vertical circle. If the speed of the bucket at the top of the loop is 6.20 m/s, then the radius of the largest circle through which this pail could move without the water leaving the bottom of the pail would be what? m = 3.75 kg...
  7. CaptainSiscold

    Angular kinematics: determining satellite orbital radius

    So, I'm working on my semester finals for my high school physics class, and I've run across a problem that has me stumped. I've included the pertinent material below. Homework Statement A rocket with a mass of 2kg and traveling at 14,008.34 meters/second loses 10% of its velocity as finishes...
  8. Ganesh Ujwal

    What is the potential field of an ion near the Bohr radius?

    I figure that at large enough distances, the potential field of an ion is just the Coulomb potential for its net charge. But what happens at scales comparable to the ion's Bohr radius? Could there be, for example, some sort of screening effect from the electron shell that changes the potential...
  9. geek96boolea10

    Find Mass and Speed given Tension and Angle

    Homework Statement Imagine one of those amusement park rides where you have a large rotating disc with seats hung by chains around it. As the disc spins, the seats also spin whilst rising up as well. The question asks for all answers to be written given the constants L, the length of the chain...
  10. Lamdbaenergy

    Find the mass of a black hole from just its radius?

    I know the original schwarzschild formula for finding the radius of the black hole, but what equation can be used to find its mass if you ONLY know its radius?
  11. C

    How to find the mass of a planet when given the radius?

    1. So for homework my teacher gave us this question (and this is quoted from his worksheet): You graduate college with a degree in astrophysics and are assigned as an astronaut to explore a distant planet for NASA. You land on this planet and are told to determine the mass of the planet...
  12. ironman

    Solving Limits: Find Interval & Radius of Convergence

    Homework Statement [/B] I have to find the radius of convergence and convergence interval. So for what x's the series converge. The answer is supposed to be for every real number. So the interval is: (-∞, ∞). So that must mean that the limit L = 0. So the radius of convergence [ which is...
  13. M

    How to calculate turning radius of a car w.r.t speed?

    I want to know the equation by which we can calculate the turing radius of a car with respect to speed or track length as I am designing a racing track for my thesis project. Regards, M.Tayyeb
  14. B

    Gravitational red- or rather blue-shift when approaching Schwarzschild radius

    I found http://physicspages.com/2013/05/05/schwarzschild-metric-gravitational-redshift/: \frac{\lambda_R}{\lambda_E} = \sqrt{\frac{1-2GM/r_R}{1-2GM/r_E}} where the indexes R and E are for receiver and emitter respectively, and the speed of light is normalized to 1. Most other sources on the...
  15. Abner

    Radius of Divergence: Find R & Interval of Convergence

    Homework Statement I have this problem to consider the power series, \sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\frac{(-4)^{n}}{\sqrt{n}}(x+4)^{n} So, i need to find the R and interval of convergence. Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution This is what i did: \lim_{n\rightarrow \infty}...
  16. AwooOOoo

    Radius of Triaxial / Scalene Ellipsoid

    Hi, I have been referencing this (https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/radius-of-ellipsoid.251321/) previous post to calculate the radius of a Triaxial Ellipsoid (a>b>c), but I'm running into some issues. Let 0 ≤ ϕ ≤ π 0 ≤ θ ≤ 2π and x=r * cos(θ) * sin(ϕ) (1) y=r * sin(θ) * sin(ϕ)...
  17. G

    Finding Convergence Radius & Interval: Solving a Complex Homework Problem

    Homework Statement ∞ n=3 ∑ ((-1)n (x+3)3n)/(2nlnn) Find radius of convergence, interval of convergence, values for x which series is: absolutely convergent, conditionally converge or divergence. Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution I applied the Ratio Test and got |(x+3)3| lim...
  18. C

    Ratio Test Radius of Convergence

    Homework Statement ∑ x2n / n! The limits of the sum go from n = 0 to n = infinity Homework EquationsThe Attempt at a Solution So I take the limit as n approaches infinity of aa+1 / an. So that gives me: ((x2n+2) * (n!)) / ((x2n) * (n + 1)!) Canceling everything out gives me x2 / (n + 1)...
  19. J

    Crossing the Event Horizon: Observing a Massive Black Hole

    A number of recent threads have discussed what happens when an observer falling into a massive black hole passes the event horizon. What I would like to know is this. For a massive BH of mass M, Schwartzchild Radius Rs, how long would it take for such an observer (who, presumably crosses the...
  20. N

    Determining radius at which 50% of energy is in the profile.

    Homework Statement I have to determine the radius at which 50% of energy is in a Gaussian profile.Homework Equations The intensity is given by I=Ioe^(-r/2c)^2. This is just a gaussian function ofcourse. The Attempt at a Solution I know c is the standard deviation. I searched through charts...
  21. J

    Gravity and Radius of the earth problem

    Homework Statement Hey guys, I have a problem where we measured the gravity on separate floors of a building using a gravometer. It gave us values in mgals. So each floor has a distance of 0.5m. How do we take this into account as we move up and down the floors? As we move up, there's and...
  22. X

    Centripetal force stunt driver problem

    Homework Statement A stunt driver for a movie needs to make a 2545kg car skid on a large, flat, parking lot surface. The force of friction between the tires and the concrete surface is 1.75x10^4N and he is driving at a speed of 24m/s. As he turns more sharply, what radius of curvature will he...
  23. M

    Radius of convergence derivation

    Hi, I am likely just missing something fundamental here, but I recently just revisited series and am looking over some notes. In my notes, I have written that if ## \lim_{x \to +\infty} \frac{a_{n+1}}{a_n} = L ## Then ## | x - x_o | = 1/L ## But shouldn't the correct expression be $$ | x -...
  24. N

    Finding radius of curvature of an eyeball

    Homework Statement Consider a simplified model of the human eye, in which all internal elements have the same refractive index of n = 1.40. Furthermore, assume that all refraction occurs at the cornea, whose vertex is 2.50 cm from the retina. Calculate the radius of curvature of the cornea such...
  25. K

    Orbital period around Schwarzschild radius

    Homework Statement An observer is orbiting at a radius r = 3GM, \theta = \frac{\pi}{2} and \phi = \omega t where w is constant. The observer sends a photon around the circular orbit in the positive \phi direction. What is the proper time \Delta \tau for the photon to complete one orbit...
  26. S

    What is the Radius of Curvature for a Banked Curve with Ice on the Road?

    Homework Statement A civil engineer is asked to design a curved section of roadway that meets the following conditions: With ice on the road, when the coefficient of static friction between the road and rubber is 0.12, a car at rest must not slide into the ditch and a car traveling less than 70...
  27. L

    Finding the Satellite Orbital Radius

    Homework Statement If NASA wants to put a satellite in a circular orbit around the sun so it will make 2.0 orbits per year, at what distance (in astronomical units, AU) from the sun should that satellite orbit? The Earth's orbit is 1.0 AU from the sun. T_E = \frac {1.0orbit}{yr} T_s = \frac...
  28. avito009

    If the sun becomes a black hole will its schwarzschild radius change?

    I know that the schwarzschild radius is proportional to the mass. But in case of black holes the mass remains the same only the size and density changes. So does the schwarzschild radius stay same when it is the sun and when it becomes a black hole?
  29. C

    How Is the Formula v=wr Derived in Vector Terms?

    How to derive the formula: v=wr where v is the tangential velocity, w is the rotational velocity, and r i the radius vector? From the attached image, it can be concluded that (each quantity is a vector): w=r x v, also v=w x r, and r= v x w. All three vectors are perpendicular to each other...
  30. U

    Radius of object in electric field

    Homework Statement Two parallel plates with opposite charges are 0.01 m apart and have a potential difference of 100 V. A charged spherical object has 20 excess electrons stays motionless between the plates. If the density of the object is 1000 kg/m^3, what is the radius of the spherical...
  31. 2

    Deriving the Schwarzchild radius?

    I'm a bit confused about the derivation of the Schwarzschild radius. I can do it quite easily using Newton's Law of gravitation, but this law is only an approximation, so I am wondering whether the result I obtain, r_{s}=\frac{2GM}{c^{2}}, is an approximation or not. It seems to me that it...
  32. V

    Dimensional analysis - atomic bomb explosion radius

    Homework Statement :[/B] An atomic explosion can be approximated as the release of a large amount of energy ##E## from a point source. The explosion results in an expanding spherical fireball bounded by powerful shock wave. Let ##R## be the radius of the shock wave and assume that...
  33. T

    Zero turn radius without using swivel casters

    I'm not sure if this question fits here, but I've had trouble finding a good simple physics forum, so I signed up here :) I'm trying to think if the below wheel (image below) could allow for my push mower to have a zero or near zero turn radius. The edges of the wheel contour up (from the...
  34. David Carroll

    Rope swinging with periodic radius changes

    If one simply swings a rope with an object tied to the end of it, the object describes a circle. But if one were to create a contraption that caused the radius of the rope to periodically decrease 4 times every revolution, one could cause the path of the object to describe a square. My...
  35. gcombina

    How do i find gravity given a radius and an altitude?

    Homework Statement What is the acceleration due to gravity at an altitude of 1.00 x 10^6 above the Earth's surface, given that the radius of the Earth is 6.38 x 10^6 m? How do i go about solving that? Homework Equations Using g = Gm/r^2 The Attempt at a Solution g= GMm/(R+h)^2 R= radio of...
  36. H

    Why do different types of lenses have different effects on image size and focus?

    So for BiConvex Lenses, increasing the lens radius (by making the lens fatter) brings the image and focus closer to the lens, thus making it smaller given constant object position. As demonstrated in this demo http://micro.magnet.fsu.edu/primer/java/lenses/lensvariations/index.htmlYet for the...
  37. J

    MHB Solve Circle Radius Given Trapezoid Height & Length

    I don't know if this can be calculated. I have tried for hours and days to isolate/calculate the radius and angles of the circle in order to be able to calculate length 1. I have tried using cos/sin-relation formulas and triangle formas - but Iam stuck. Any hints would be greatly appreciated...
  38. B

    Photon that "fits" into its schwarzschild radius

    Photons with smaller and smaller wave lengths have a higher and higher energy and these engeries have an increasing Schwarzschild radius r_s. Consequently i can ask when half the wave length \lambda/2 is equal to r_s, such that one wave length fits into the sphere of the Schwarzschild radius. I...
  39. michael879

    Deriving Møller's Relativistic Minimum Radius for Rotating Bodies

    Can someone either derive or point me to a derivation of Møller's formula for the relativistic minimum radius of a rotating body? I've been searching for about an hour and it's driving me crazy! The only "minimum radius" equation I've seen imposes the speed limit c on a classical rotating body...
  40. squelch

    A ring with charge Q and radius 'r'

    Homework Statement Show that ##\vec{E}_x## on the axis of a ring charge [I'm assuming they meant "of charge Q"] of radius "r" has its maximum value at ##x=\pm \frac{r}{\sqrt{2}}## Homework Equations Linear charge density ##\lambda=\frac{Q}{2\pi R}## ##dQ=\lambda ds = \frac{Qd\theta}{2\pi}##...
  41. F

    Derive an expression of Bohr radius in gravitational case

    Homework Statement Both Newton's gravitational law and Coulomb's law are inverse-square laws: The force of attraction between the sun (S) and Earth(E) has (G*m_S*m_E)/r^2, whereas the force of attraction between an electron and a proton in a hydrogen atom is (e^2)/(4*pi*epsilon_0*r^2). Derive...
  42. Z

    NFW Dark Matter Halos and Virial Radius

    I've been working with NFW Dark Matter Halos recently. This is a particular density model for the halo developed by Navarro, Frenk, & White (NFW). The density structure has the form \rho (r) = \frac{\delta_c \rho_c}{(r/r_s)(1+r/r_s)^2} where \delta_c = \frac{200}{3}...
  43. W

    Faraday's Law and the radius of the coil

    I've only recently started learning basic electrodynamics, but I don't understand why a loop of coil with a small area and a magnet falling through will produce a larger peak to peak emf amplitude than a loop of coil with a larger area with the same magnetic field falling through. To clarify...
  44. Julio1

    MHB What is the Radius of Convergence for the Power Series?

    Find the radius of convergence of the power series $\displaystyle\sum_{n=1}^{\infty}\dfrac{(-1)^{n+1}(z-1)^n}{n+1}$, $z\in \mathbb{C}.$
  45. F

    Schwarzschild Radius of Masses Other Than Black Holes

    Recently I have been researching black holes, and came across the "Schwarzschild Radius". The wikipedia page on Schwarzschild radius's mentioned that the Sun has a radius of 3km. If that is so, then how can that be so, as that would mean that light cannot escape it. So when it said "3km", did...
  46. Z

    What is the mass and equatorial radius of the Crab Pulsar?

    The most widely cited figures are 1.4 solar masses and 10 km radius. However, tracing the references back to their sources I find that these are just canonical numbers for a generic neutron star. Either the original paper says that explicitly or says something like, "Let's assume a mass of...
  47. wolf1728

    Cylinder Calculator - Volume Area Radius Height

    Maybe I'm plugging my website but I just finished writing a versatile cylinder calculator. If you know two variables (Volume Area Radius Height), it calculates the other two. http://www.1728.org/diam.htm It was a little tricky deriving the formulas but I'm glad I did. (Yes, I know if you...
  48. P

    Schwartzchild Radius Adjustment: Susskind's Online Lecture Series

    What if Schwatzchild has made the same mistake as Newton? ( 1 - 2MG / c2 r ) dt can be view as a binomial expansion to first order of 1 / ( 1 + 4MG / C2 r )1/2 dt then would the event horizon be at the singularity? I've been reviewing Susskind's online lecture series, and...
  49. D

    Radius of curvature of second lens surface

    Homework Statement A lens of power of -5.0D has a surface which is convex of radius of curvature of 15.0cm. The lens is made of material of refractive index of 1.50. What's the radius of the other surface of lens? Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution since power = 1/f...
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