What Is Surface Area?

Say you just purchased a brand new aquarium as a gift for your best friend. You take it
home only to realize you only have 4 square feet of wrapping paper. Oh no! How do
you know if that's enough wrapping paper? That's easy - just find the surface area!
The surface area is the total area of a 3D object when you add together the areas of
all the sides. It will tell you the amount of space that an object or solid figure will take
up all around. The key to finding the surface area is to know all of the shapes that
make up the object. Then, you can measure the sides of the shapes to find your surface
area.

What Is a Right Prism?

So, what shapes make up your aquarium? You may have guessed that it's a right
prism. A right prism is made up of two identical, parallel bases on the ends, and the
faces are perpendicular to the bases. The standard aquarium is a right prism because it
has two square bases on the ends, and it has four rectangular faces that are
perpendicular to the two bases.

An aquarium is an example of a right prism.

It's important to remember that right prisms have no curves. Also, there are various
types of right prisms. Rectangular prisms, pentagonal prisms, hexagonal prisms, and
right triangular prisms are just a few examples of right prisms. The formula for finding
the surface area is the same for all right prisms and is:
Surface area = 2B + hP. In this formula, B is the area of one of the bases, while h is
the prism's height, and Pis the perimeter of the base.

Finding Surface Area of a Right Prism

Now, let's explore how to find the surface area of our right rectangular prism--our
aquarium.
The measurements for our aquarium

Let's follow these steps to find the surface area of your aquarium using the formula
2B + hP:

 First, you must measure the sides of a base to find the area of one of the bases.
The bases of our aquarium are square, with each side measuring 7 inches; so, to
find the base of a square (B), we multiply width times height.
o 7 x 7 = 49
 Now, solve for the left side of the formula by multiplying the area of one base
(B) times 2.
o 49 x 2 = 98
 Move on to the right half of the formula. Find the perimeter of the base (P) by
adding all of its sides.
o 7 + 7 + 7 + 7 = 28
 Next, multiply the perimeter of the base (P) times the height of the prism (h).
o 28 x 15 = 420
 Lastly, add the two multiplied parts of the formula together.
o 98 + 420 = 518

So, the surface area of the aquarium would be 518 inches squared. Your sheet of
wrapping paper has a surface area of 4 square feet, which equals 576 inches squared.
Phew! You have more than enough gift wrap to cover the aquarium.

Lesson Summary
To review, surface area is the total area of a 3D object when you add together the
areas of all the sides. A right prism is made up of two identical, parallel bases on the
ends, and the faces are perpendicular to the bases. The formula for finding surface area
is 2B + hP (where B is the area of one of the bases, h is the prism's height and P is the
perimeter of the base).
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