Final answer:
The area of the larger square is 4 times larger than the area of the smaller square.
Step-by-step explanation:
The area of the larger square will be greater than 2 1/2 square feet. The ratio of the areas of similar figures is the square of the scale factor. Since the dimensions of the larger square are twice the dimensions of the smaller square, the scale factor is 2.
Therefore, the area of the larger square is 2^2 = 4 times larger than the area of the smaller square.