Final answer:
The surface area of the cube is increasing at a rate of 624 square centimeters per second when each edge is 6.5 centimeters long.
Step-by-step explanation:
The student is asking how fast the surface area of a cube is changing when each edge is increasing in length at a constant rate. Since all edges of the cube are expanding at a rate of 8 centimeters per second, we can use this information to calculate how quickly the surface area is changing. The surface area (SA) of a cube is given by the formula SA = 6s², where s is the length of one side of the cube.
If the rate of change of the side length (ds/dt) is 8 cm/s, we can find the rate of change of the surface area (dSA/dt) by differentiating the surface area formula with respect to time. Using the chain rule, we have:
dSA/dt = 6 × 2s × (ds/dt) = 12s × (ds/dt)
When each side is 6.5 cm:
dSA/dt = 12 × 6.5 cm × 8 cm/s
dSA/dt = 12 × 52 cm²/s
dSA/dt = 624 cm²/s
So, the surface area of the cube is increasing at a rate of 624 square centimeters per second when each edge is 6.5 centimeters long.