Intersection of 2 Spheres – Volumes

1. Find the volume that lies inside both spheres: x2 + y2 + z2 + 4x – 2y + 4z + 5 = 0

and x2 + y2 + z2 = 4.

First we’ll complete the square and 2 spheres with the same radius of 2.
x 2 + 4 x + 4 + y 2 - 2 y + 1 + z 2 + 4 z + 4 = -5 + 4 + 1 + 4
( x + 4 ) 2 + ( y - 1) 2 + ( z + 2 ) 2 = 4 and x2 + y2 + z2 = 4

64p
So our total volume inside the 2 spheres is 43 p ( 2 ) + 43 p ( 2 ) - A - B =
3 3
- A- B
3
Where A and B represent the 2 ‘double-counted’ volumes inside each of the spheres.

Now the intersection of 2 spheres is a circle and to compute the volume of a ‘polar cap’ we
can look at the volume of rotation of the circle like: x2 + y2 = R2 or 22 as is the case here.
dV = p r 2dx = p y 2dx = p R 2 - x 2 dx ( )
( ) ( ) - ( R a - ) ��
x=R
( )
R
= p �R 3 -
3
2 2 2 R3 2 a3
V= �p R - x dx = p R x - x3 a � 3 3
x =a

=p �2 R - R 2a + a �
3 3

�3 3 �… so all we need to know is ‘a’.

So if we have 2 spheres (or circles) of equal radius intersecting all we need to know is
‘how far from the centers’ is the plane of intersection.

Let ‘a’ be the distance to find volume ‘A’ and ‘b’ be the distance to find volume ‘B’.

The distance between the centers of the 2 spheres (0,0,0) and (-2,1,-2) is 22 + 12 + 22 = 3 .
Now we have to find the plane (point) of intersection…
Since the 2 spheres have the same radius, we have 2 congruent shapes.
That is, a = b and A = B and the plane of intersection is the midpoint of that 3 unit
segment.
So a = 1 12 or 32 . Now plugging this into our formula above along with R = 2, we get:
�3 ( 3) �
3
11p
VA = = p 2�
�3
2 - 22
( )
3
2
+ 2 3 �= p �16
�3 - 6 + 9�
8�
= p 9
�
�
8
- 2�
3�
=
24
� �
11p 11p 64p 4 11p 245p
VA + VB = 2 � = and so the total volume is: � - =
24 12 3 4 12 12