# Oblate Spheroid - Mass

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vCalc.Oblate Spheroid - Mass
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The Mass or Weight of an Oblate Spheroid calculator computes the volume of an oblate spheroid based on the semi-major(b) and semi- minor (c) axis with the assumption that the spheroid is generated via rotation around the minor axis (see diagram).

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose your length units for a and b (e.g. feet, meters, light-years), and enter the following:

• (b) - semi-major axis, the distance from the oblate spheroid's center along the longest axis of the spheroid
• (c) - semi-minor axis, the distance from the oblate spheroid's center along the shortest axis of the spheroid
• (mD) - the mean density of the substance comprising the oblate spheroid.

Oblate Spheroid Mass / Weight: The mass (M) is returned in kilograms.  However, this can be automatically converted to other mass and weight units (e.g. tons, pounds) via the pull-down menu.

### NOTES

The oblate spheroid is an ellipsoid that can be formed by rotating an ellipse about its minor axis.  The rotational axis thus formed will appear to be the oblate spheroid's polar axis. The oblate spheroid is fully described then by its semi-major and semi-minor axes.

One important shape in nature that is close to (though not exactly) an oblate spheroid is the Earth which has a semi-minor axis (c) which is the polar radius of 6,356 kilometers, and a semi-major axis (b) which is the equatorial radius of 6,378 kilometers.  Consideration: what force would make the equatorial radius larger than the polar radius?

#### Related Calculators

The following table contains links to calculators that compute the volume of other shapes:

 Other Volume Calculators Various Shapes Polygon Columns Cube Triangular Prism Triangular Box Paraboloid Quadrilateral Cone Polygon based Pyramid Pentagon Cone Frustum Pyramid Frustum Hexagon Cylinder Sphere Heptagon Slanted Cylinder Sphere Cap Octagon Ellipsoid Oblate Spheroid Nonagon Torus Capsule Decagon