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MEASUREMENT
Lesson 5 - Page 1

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LESSON 5.  Surface Area and Volume  (Lab)

Volume is the measured amount of space taken up by an object.   The unit of measurement for solids is cubic units  (i.e., meter cubed) and for liquid it is liters and milliliters.  Volume is a three dimensional term and requires 3 linear dimensions to calculate. 

Surface area is the area of just the outside of an object.  It is a two dimensional calculation that requires only two sides of a regular polygon.   For example think of a cylinder as two circles (the top) and one rectangle that would be folder around the two circles.  The surface area would be area of 2 circles +  1 rectangle.  The area of one circle is Br²  so two would be 2(Br²).  The rectangle would be the height (h)  and because it is wrapped around the circles the length would be the circumference of that circle which is Bd (d = diameter of the circle which is 2 radii).  The final formula is 2(Br²) + Bdh.  Sometimes math is just breaking up the components and doing the arithmetic.