ntroduction to surface area and volume
key notes :
Surface Area:
Definition: Surface area is the total area of all the surfaces (faces) of a 3D object.
Units: Measured in square units (e.g., cm², m²).
Formulae:
- Cube: 6a2 (where ‘a’ is the length of one side).
- Rectangular Prism: 2lw + 2lh + 2wh (where ‘l’ is length, ‘w’ is width, and ‘h’ is height).
- Cylinder: 2πr2 + 2πrh (where ‘r’ is the radius and ‘h’ is the height).
- Sphere: 4πr2 (where ‘r’ is the radius).
- Cone: πr (r+l) (where ‘r’ is the radius and ‘l’ is the slant height).
Volume:
Definition: Volume is the amount of space occupied by a 3D object.
Units: Measured in cubic units (e.g., cm³, m³).
Formulae:
- Cube: a3 (where ‘a’ is the side length).
- Rectangular Prism: l × w × h (where ‘l’ is length, ‘w’ is width, and ‘h’ is height).
- Cylinder: πr2h (where ‘r’ is the radius and ‘h’ is the height).
- Sphere: 4/3 πr3 (where ‘r’ is the radius).
- Cone: 1/3 πr2h (where ‘r’ is the radius and ‘h’ is the height).
Relation Between Surface Area and Volume:
- Surface area and volume are both essential in understanding the size and shape of an object.
- While surface area refers to the outer covering, volume deals with the internal space.
- In certain cases, like in optimization problems, there’s a relationship where increasing surface area leads to an increase in volume (e.g., in packing or maximizing efficiency).
Real-Life Applications:
- Surface Area: Important in cases like determining the amount of material needed to cover an object (paint, wrapping paper, etc.).
- Volume: Useful for calculating the capacity of containers (like swimming pools, water tanks, etc.) or the amount of space an object occupies.
Conceptual Understanding:
Understanding the geometric properties of shapes and how dimensions affect surface area and volume is fundamental to solving real-world problems in various fields, including architecture, engineering, and design.
Learn with an example
What is the surface area?

______ square metres.
Each face of the cube is a square with sides that are 9 metres long.
Find the area of one face:

area=side . side
=9 . 9
=81
The area of each face is 81 square metres. There are 6 faces. Multiply:
surface area=6 . 81
=486
The surface area of the cube is 486 square metres.
What is the volume?

——cubic millimetres.
Find the length, width, and height of the rectangular prism.
length: 6 mm
width: 9 mm
height: 4 mm
Use these numbers in the formula.
volume=length . width . height
=6 . 9 . 4
=216
The volume is 216 cubic millimetres.
What is the volume?

——cubic millimetres.
Each side of the cube is 4 millimetres long. Use the number 4 in the formula.
volume=side . side . side
=4 .4 . 4
=64
The volume is 64 cubic millimetres.
Let’s practice!