When a solid metallic object of one shape is melted down and completely recast into one or more objects of another shape (assuming no loss of metal during the melting process), the total volume remains unchanged:
If a large solid of volume $V_{ ext{large}}$ is melted to form $n$ identical smaller solids, each of volume $V_{ ext{small}}$:
$$\mathbf{n = rac{V_{ ext{large}}}{V_{ ext{small}}} = rac{ ext{Total Volume of Original Metal}}{ ext{Volume of One Small Recast Solid}}}$$A very common board problem involves melting a sphere or cuboid and drawing it into a thin cylindrical wire of uniform cross-section:
- A wire of circular thickness is geometrically a Right Circular Cylinder.
- Let the radius of the wire be $r_{ ext{wire}}$ and its length (height of cylinder) be $L$.
- Volume of the wire: $\mathbf{V = \pi r_{ ext{wire}}^2 L}$.
- Equating volumes gives the length of the wire: $\mathbf{L = rac{V_{ ext{original}}}{\pi r_{ ext{wire}}^2}}$.
- Unit Alert: Wire diameter is often given in millimeters ($ ext{mm}$) while original solid dimensions are in centimeters ($ ext{cm}$) or meters ($ ext{m}$). Always convert all dimensions to the same unit before calculating!