As shown in the figure: the circumference of the bottom surface of a cylinder is 16cm, and the height is 6cm. BC is the diameter of the upper bottom surface. An ant starts from point a and crawls along the side of the cylinder to point C, then the shortest distance for the ant to crawl is______ cm.

As shown in the figure: the circumference of the bottom surface of a cylinder is 16cm, and the height is 6cm. BC is the diameter of the upper bottom surface. An ant starts from point a and crawls along the side of the cylinder to point C, then the shortest distance for the ant to crawl is______ cm.


After expansion, connect AC, the length of line AC is the shortest distance for ants to crawl, as shown in the figure, because the circumference of the bottom surface of a cylinder is 16cm, and the height is 6cm. In the figure, ad = 12 × 16 = 8, CD = 6. In RT △ ADC, according to the Pythagorean theorem, AC = 82 + 62 = 10, that is, the shortest distance for ants to crawl is 10cm, so the answer is 10