Given a right circular cylinder with all vertices on the surface of a sphere with radius , determine the height of the cylinder when its volume is maximized.
Solution
Let's denote the base edge length of the right circular cylinder as . Then, the distance from the center of the base to vertex is .
Thus, the height of the cylinder is .
The volume of the right circular cylinder is then .
Equality occurs if and only if , which implies .
Under these circumstances, the height of the cylinder is .
To find the maximum volume, we set the base edge length as and express the cylinder's volume in terms of . We then find the critical point(s) of and determine the height of the cylinder at this point(s).
This problem tests understanding of the relationship between a cylinder and its circumscribed sphere, volume calculation of a cylinder, and applications of basic inequalities. It is of moderate difficulty.
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