Question

A typical soda can has a diameter of 5.3 centimeters and height of 12 centimeters. How many square centimeters of aluminum is needed to make the can? My answer is 244. I am confused how I got the answer.

Answer 1

The can is made up of aluminium.

So the area of the can must be equal to the area of the Aluminium sheet.

The can is in the form of a cylinder with diameter (d) 5.3 cm, and height (h) 12 cm.

Then its area is calculated as,

`\begin{gathered} A=\pi d((d)/(2)+h) \\ A=\pi(5.3)((5.3)/(2)+12) \\ A=243.9289 \\ A\approx244 \end{gathered}`

Thus, the area of the Aluminium sheet required is 244 square centimeters.