2004 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 22

The following problem is from both the 2004 AMC 12A #22 and 2004 AMC 10A #25, so both problems redirect to this page.

Problem

Three mutually tangent spheres of radius $1$ rest on a horizontal plane. A sphere of radius $2$ rests on them. What is the distance from the plane to the top of the larger sphere?

$\text {(A)}\ 3 + \frac {\sqrt {30}}{2} \qquad \text {(B)}\ 3 + \frac {\sqrt {69}}{3} \qquad \text {(C)}\ 3 + \frac {\sqrt {123}}{4}\qquad \text {(D)}\ \frac {52}{9}\qquad \text {(E)}\ 3 + 2\sqrt2$

Solution

We draw the three spheres of radius $1$ :

And then add the sphere of radius $2$ :

The height from the center of the bottom sphere to the plane is $1$ , and from the center of the top sphere to the tip is $2$ .

We now need the vertical height of the centers. If we connect the centers, we get a triangular pyramid with an equilateral triangle base. The distance from the vertex of the equilateral triangle to its centroid can be found by $30-60-90 \triangle$ s to be $\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}$ .

By the Pythagorean Theorem, we have $\left(\frac{2}{\sqrt{3}}\right)^2 + h^2 = 3^2 \Longrightarrow h = \frac{\sqrt{69}}{3}$ . Adding the heights up, we get $\frac{\sqrt{69}}{3} + 1 + 2 = \frac{\sqrt{69} + 9}{3} \Rightarrow\boxed{\mathrm{(B)}\ 3+\frac{\sqrt{69}}{3}}$

2004 AMC 12A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 21	Followed by Problem 23
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All AMC 12 Problems and Solutions

2004 AMC 10A (Problems • Answer Key • Resources)
Preceded by Problem 24	Followed by Final Question
1 • 2 • 3 • 4 • 5 • 6 • 7 • 8 • 9 • 10 • 11 • 12 • 13 • 14 • 15 • 16 • 17 • 18 • 19 • 20 • 21 • 22 • 23 • 24 • 25
All AMC 10 Problems and Solutions

The problems on this page are copyrighted by the Mathematical Association of America's American Mathematics Competitions.

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2004 AMC 12A Problems/Problem 22

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