Lesson 3

Lesson 3: The Volume and Capacity of Pyramids, Cones, and Spheres

 

Focus

 

Conical piles of sand and gravel are familiar sights at quarries near almost every community in Canada. Sand and gravel are used in road and rail-bed preparation, in asphalt and concrete, as fill, and in drinking-water filtration. Do you know that each year, per person, Canadians use over 15 m3 of aggregates? How would you estimate the volume of the conical pile in the photo?

 

In this lesson you will explore how the volume and capacity of pyramids, cones, and spheres are determined. You will determine these volumes in a variety of problem situations.

 

Lesson Questions

 

In this lesson you will investigate the following questions:

• How are the volume and capacity of pyramids, cones, and spheres calculated?

• How are volume and capacity formulas used in real-life situations?

Assessment

 

Your assessment for this lesson may include a combination of the following:

• course folder submissions from the Try This and Share sections of the lesson
  
  
• your contribution to the Math 20-3: Glossary Terms and the Formula Sheet
  
  
• Lesson 3 Assignment (Save a copy of your lesson assignment document to your course folder now.)
  
  
• the Project Connection

Materials and Equipment

• stiff paper or cardstock
• scissors
• tape
• geometry set
• calculator