Lesson 4
1. Lesson 4
1.8. Lesson 4 Summary
Module 6: Surface Area
Photo courtesy of NASA Science
Lesson 4 Summary
Balloons carry instruments to altitudes approaching 100 km. As they ascend, these balloons expand as atmospheric pressure decreases. Some balloons are designed to expand in dimensions by a factor of 100. How many times would the balloon's surface area increase?
The balloon in the photograph is being used to take equipment above 99% of the atmosphere.
In this lesson you investigated changes in surface area as linear dimensions change. You discovered that the surface area scale factor is directly related to the square of the linear scale factor. You applied this principle in a variety of problem situations.