Units of area and volume
Area is the amount of space inside a A flat object with width and length but no depth, eg a square. shape.
Volume is the amount of space inside a An object with width, height and depth, eg a cube. object.
Metric units for area and volume are based on units of length:
- millimetres (\(mm\))
- centimetres (\(cm\))
- metres (\(m\))
- kilometres (\(km\))
Units of area
A square centimetre is the area within a square with sides of length \({1~cm}\), as shown above.
We say that it has an area of \({1~cm}^{2}\) (\({1~cm}\) squared).
Area is measured in:
- square millimetres (\(mm^{2}\))
- square centimetres (\(cm^{2}\))
- square metres (\(m^{2}\))
- square kilometres (\(km^{2}\))
Units of volume
A cubic centimetre is the volume within a cube that has sides of length \({1~cm}\), as shown above.
It has a volume of \({1~cm}^3\) (\(1~cm\) cubed).
Volume is measured in:
- cubic millimetres (\(mm^{3}\))
- cubic centimetres (\(cm^{3}\))
- cubic metres (\(m^{3}\))
- cubic kilometres (\(km^{3}\))