Why do 4 circles cover the surface of a sphere?

Let $Z$ be a cylinder of height $2r$ touching the sphere $S_r$ along the equator $\theta=0$. Consider now a thin plate orthogonal to the $z$-axis having a thickness $\Delta z\ll r$. It intersects $S_r$ at a certain geographical latitude $\theta$ in a nonplanar annulus of radius $\rho= r\cos\theta$ and width $\Delta s=\Delta z/\cos\theta$, and it intersects $Z$ in a cylinder of height $\Delta z$. Both these "annuli" have the same area $2\pi r \Delta z$. As this is true for any such plate it follows that the total area of the sphere $S_r$ is the same as the total area of $Z$, namely $4\pi r^2$.

One geometric explanation is that $4\pi r^2$ is the derivative of $\frac{4}{3}\pi r^3$, the volume of the ball with radius $r$, with respect to $r$. This is because if you enlarge $r$ a little bit, the volume of the ball will change by its surface times the small enlargement of $r$.

So why is the volume of the full ball $\frac{4}{3}\pi r^3$? By slicing the ball into disks, using Pythagoras, you get that its volume is $$ \int_{-r}^r \pi (r^2-x^2)\mathrm{d}x $$ which is indeed $\frac{4}{3}\pi r^3$.