Solid Mensuration

Lesson 1
Cubes
AN INTRODUCTION TO SOLIDS

A solid is any
limited portion
of space
bounded by
surfaces or
plane figures.
LEARNING OUTCOMES

At the end of the lesson, the students should be able to :

1. Derive the formula for the volume and surface area of a
cube;
2. Apply the formula to calculate the volume and surface
area of a cube; and
3. Solve real – world problems using volume and surface
area of a cube.
ACTIVITY 1
Work with a partner for this activity for 5 minutes. Investigate the
relationship between the dimensions of a cube and its volume.
1. Jakob wants to build a condominium unit that has the same width, height
and length. If the unit was 3 rooms wide, how many rooms would the
condominium unit have?
2. What about if the condominium unit was
a. 4 rooms wide?
b. 5 rooms wide?
3. If the condominium unit had the following number of rooms, how wide
would the condominium unit be?
a. 1000
b. 343
c. 400
4. Describe the relationship between the width, height, length and the
number of cubes needed to build a condominium unit?
ACTIVITY 2
In this activity , investigate the surface area of a cube. Draw a net
representing the surfaces of the cube shown below.

A net is a pattern made when the surface of a three-dimensional figure is laid

out flat showing each face of the figure.

Guide Questions
1. What shape is formed?
2. How many edges/sides are there in a cube?
3. How many faces are there in a cube?
4. How do you get the area of each face?
5. What is the total area of all the faces?
6. How do you get the surface area of a cube?
Example 1

Compute for the volume, lateral surface

area and total surface area of the following
cubes:
a. b. c.
Example 2

A freshman architecture student is asked

to determine the ratio of the volumes and
ratio of the surface areas of two different
cubical cereal boxes. One cubical cereal
box has an edge equal to the diagonal of
another cubical cereal box.
Example 3

A toy manufacturer produces a set of blocks that can

be used by children to build play structures. The
blocks are cubes with one side measuring 1.2 inches
in length. The blocks are formed when a liquid
plastic is poured into a mold of the blocks. The
company uses trays that contain one dozen block
molds in each tray. If the liquid plastic is measured
in 10 cubic inches, how much liquid plastic is needed
to fill one tray? 3,000 trays?
Example 3

A carpenter was requested by a client to construct

a solid wooden cube that is 6 inches on a side. The
total surface area of the cube is to be painted
blue.
a. What is the area to be painted with blue color?
b. What is the amount of wood needed?
Example 4

The Philippine Postal Service will accept a cubical box for

domestic shipment only if the diagonal of a cubical box is
3 3 feet. You have been asked to design this box.
a. Given the diagonal of a cubical box, how long is the edge
of the cube?
b. From your answer in (a), what is the area of one face of
the box? How many faces does a cube have?
c. From your answer in (b), what is the total surface area of
the cube? What about its volume?
Example 5

As the production engineer

of a big construction firm in
Cagayan Valley, your job is to
find the dimensions, volume
and total area of the largest
cube of wood that can be cut
from a log of circular cross
section whose radius is 12.7
inches. See figure.
SEATWORK
Read and analyze carefully the following problems, then show your
complete solution on a separate sheet of paper. ( 3 points each)

1. The area of one lateral face of a cubical crate is equal to 64 square inches. How many
cubic inches of socks can be stored in a cubical crate?
2. Markus and Jakob are both Red Sox fans, and they love pulling stunts. This year, they've
watched a plan to inflate two giant cubes and release them into the crowd during the
seventh inning stretch. One cube has one face that is equal to the total surface area of
another cube. Find the ratio of their volumes.
3. Find the approximate change in the volume of cube caused by increasing its edge by 5%.
4. How many square inches of material is required to create an open top cubical box whose
volume is 216 cubic inches?
5. Dr. JC Mendoza is an astronomy enthusiast. On the weekends, he volunteers in the
constellation room at the planetarium. The constellation room is a cubical room with two
three-dimensional projectors at the opposite corners that project the constellations as they
would currently appear if it were perfectly dark outside. Find the distance in feet between
two corners of the cubical room that are farthest from each other if the edge of the room
measures 20 feet.
SEATWORK (CLOSED – NOTES)
Read and analyze carefully the following problems, then show your
complete solution at the back of this page. ( 3 points each)

1. An edge of an ice cube measures 10 inches. The ice melts until it weighs half as heavy as
the original size. Find the dimensions of the new ice cube.

2. Find the amount of cement that will be stored in a cubical container if one of the diagonals
of its faces is 10 2 inches.

3. If an edge of the cubical container box is increased by 33%, by how much is the total
surface area increased?

4. How much material was used in the manufacture of 24,000 solid dice, if each die has an
edge of 0.25 inch?

5. What is the weight of a block of ice 24 inches by 24 inches by 24 inches, if ice weighs 92
per cent as much as water, and water weighs 62.5 pounds per cubic foot?
Example 7

A solid concrete porch

consists of 3 steps and a
landing. The steps have a
tread of 11 inches., a rise of
7 inches, and a length of 7
feet; a landing is 6 feet by 7
feet. How much material was
used in its construction?