Units of area and volume

The area of a 2D shape is the amount of space inside it.

Area is measured in square kilometres (km²), square metres (m²), square centimetres (cm²) and square millimetres (mm²).

Volume measures the space inside a object. The standard units of volume are cubic metres (m³), cubic centimetres (cm³) and cubic millimetres (mm³).

Capacity measures the amount that a 3-dimensional (3D) object can hold. The standard units of capacity are litres (l) and millilitres (ml).

A gold bar is a cuboid measuring 5 cm by 10 cm by 8 cm. It is melted down and made into cubes with edges of length 2 cm. How many cubes can be made?

The volume of the cuboid is: \(5 \times 10 \times 8 = 400~\text{cm}^\text{3}\)

The volume of one cube is: \(2 \times 2 \times 2 = 8~\text{cm}^\text{3}\)

The number of cubes = \(\frac{\text{volume of the large cuboid}}{\text{volume of one cube}}\)

The number of cubes = \(\frac{400}{8} = 50\)

50 cubes can be made.

Units of measure - AQAUnits of area and volume