We are here to answer your questions on life. So to the caller from Devon who asked how many sausages to fill a rugby ball ......
To determine how many 4-inch sausages would fit inside a regulation size 5 rugby ball, we need to calculate the volume of both the rugby ball and the sausage and then see how many sausages would fit into that volume.
The volume of a rugby ball can be approximated by using the formula for the volume of a prolate spheroid:
V=34πab2
where ( a ) is the semi-major axis (half the length of the ball), and ( b ) is the semi-minor axis (half the width of the ball).
A regulation size 5 rugby ball has a length of about 28-30 cm and a short diameter of about 18.46-19.74 cm123. Using the average values:
a=229cm=14.5cm
b=219.1cm=9.55cm
The volume of the rugby ball is then:
Vrugby=34π(14.5cm)(9.55cm)2≈5534.8cm3
For the sausage, we’ll use the volume of a cylinder to approximate:
V=πr2h
where ( r ) is the radius and ( h ) is the height (or length in this case).
A 4-inch sausage is approximately 10.16 cm long, and if we assume a diameter of about 2 cm (which is a standard sausage diameter), the radius ( r ) would be 1 cm.
The volume of one 4-inch sausage is:
Vsausage=π(1cm)2(10.16cm)≈31.84cm3
Now, we divide the volume of the rugby ball by the volume of one sausage to find out how many can fit inside:
31.84cm3/sausage5534.8cm3≈173.8sausages
So, it would take approximately 174 4-inch sausages to fill a regulation size 5 rugby ball.
Founder at PowerDrive Sport Futures
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