Calculating Volume Essay

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Name: Date: 10.1 Calculating Volume How do you find the volume of a three dimensional shape? Volume is the amount of space an object takes up. If you know the dimensions of a solid object, you can find the object's volume. A two dimensional shape has length and width. A three dimensional object has length, width, and height. This investigation will give you practice finding volume for different solid objects. Materials • Pencil • Calculator Calculating volume of a cube A cube is a geometric solid that has length, width and height. If you measure the sides of a cube, you will find that all the edges have the same measurement. The volume of a cube is found by multiplying the length times width times height. In the picture each side is 4 centimeters so the problem looks like this: V= l × w × h Example: Volume = 4 centimeters × 4 centimeters × 4 centimeters = 64 centimeters3 Stop and think a. b. c. What are the units for volume in the example above? In the example above, if the edge of the cube is 4 inches, what will the volume be? Give the units. How is finding volume different from finding area? d. If you had cubes with a length of 1 centimeter, how many would you need to build the cube in the picture above? Calculating volume of a rectangular prism Rectangular prisms are like cubes, except not all of the sides are equal. A shoebox is a rectangular prism. You can find the volume of a rectangular prism using the same formula given above (V= l × w × h.) Another way to say it is to multiply the area of the base times the height. 1. 2. 3. Find the area of the base for the rectangular prism pictured above. Multiply the area of the base times the height. Record the volume of the rectangular prism. PRACTICE: Find the volume for a rectangular prism with a height 6 cm, length 5 cm, and width 3 cm. Be sure to include the units in all of your answers. Page 2 of 3

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