Surface Areas and Volumes
Surface areas and volumes of cuboid, cube, cylinder, cone, sphere, hemisphere, and combinations of solids — NCERT Class 10 Maths Ch 12
Board Exam Tips
- →Combination-of-solids problem (cone on top of cylinder / hemisphere on cuboid) is a guaranteed 4-mark question.
- →State units in the final answer: cm² for surface area, cm³ for volume.
- →For a hemisphere, TSA = 3πr² (curved + circular base). Do not miss the base.
- →When one solid is melted and recast into another, VOLUME is conserved — never surface area.
- →Frustum problems use l = √(h² + (R − r)²) — memorise the slant-height formula.
📐 Formulas(9)
Cuboid★ Board fav
| Symbol | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Length | |
| Breadth | |
| Height |
Cube
Cylinder★ Board fav
Cone
Sphere★ Board fav
Hemisphere
Slant Height of a Cone
Frustum of a Cone
Volume Conservation on Recasting★ Board fav
✏️ Solved Examples
Find the volume of a cylinder with radius 7 cm and height 10 cm. (Take π = 22/7.)
Apply V = πr²h
A toy is in the shape of a cone of radius 3.5 cm mounted on a hemisphere of the same radius. If the total height of the toy is 15.5 cm, find its total surface area.
Radius r = 3.5 cm; height of cone h = 15.5 − 3.5 = 12 cm.
A solid metallic sphere of radius 10.5 cm is melted and recast into small right circular cones each of radius 3.5 cm and height 3 cm. Find the number of cones formed. (π = 22/7)
Volume conservation
⚠️ Traps & Common Mistakes
- 1
Missing the flat circular base while computing TSA of a hemisphere
✓TSA of hemisphere = 2πr² (curved) + πr² (base) = 3πr². Only 2πr² if the base is not exposed (as in a solid resting on ground).
- 2
Confusing height with slant height in cone problems
✓Height h is the vertical distance; slant height l is √(r² + h²). Draw the right triangle every time.
- 3
Applying wrong π value
✓Use π = 22/7 when radii/heights end in 7 or 14; otherwise π = 3.14. Follow the question.
- 4
Adding the areas of both faces at the junction of two solids
✓When a cone sits on a hemisphere of the same radius, the shared circular face is INSIDE ⇒ not counted in TSA of the combined solid.
- 5
Equating surface areas on melting/recasting
✓Only VOLUME is conserved. Surface area generally changes.
- 6
Mixing units — using r in cm and h in m
✓Convert all lengths to the SAME unit before computing V or SA.
🎯 Practice Yourself
- Q1
Find the volume of a sphere of diameter 14 cm. (π = 22/7)
- Q2
The radius and height of a cylinder are 7 cm and 20 cm. Find its CSA and TSA.
- Q3
A conical tent has base radius 5 m and slant height 13 m. Find the area of canvas required.
- Q4
Water flows through a pipe of internal diameter 2 cm at 3 m/s. How much water (in litres) flows out in 1 minute?
- Q5
A frustum of a cone has R = 20 cm, r = 8 cm, h = 16 cm. Find its slant height.
- Q6
A cube of side 6 cm is cut into 8 smaller cubes. Find the total surface area of all small cubes and compare with the original.
📝 Notes
Surface Areas and Volumes
3-D geometry with formulas you can plug straight into. Every shape has an area (skin) and a volume (stuff inside).
One-look master table
| Solid | Volume | Curved SA | Total SA | |---|---|---|---| | Cuboid | l·b·h | 2h(l+b) | 2(lb + bh + hl) | | Cube | a³ | 4a² | 6a² | | Cylinder | πr²h | 2πrh | 2πr(r + h) | | Cone | ⅓πr²h | πrl | πr(r + l) | | Sphere | 4/3 πr³ | 4πr² | 4πr² | | Hemisphere | 2/3 πr³ | 2πr² | 3πr² | | Frustum | ⅓πh(R² + Rr + r²) | π(R+r) l | π(R+r)l + πR² + πr² |
Two situations you must be alert to
- Combination of solids (cone on cylinder, hemisphere on cuboid, etc.) — hidden internal faces are NOT counted in TSA. Just add the CSA of each part.
- Melting and recasting — VOLUME is preserved; use V_old = n · V_new.
Slant heights
- Cone: l = √(r² + h²)
- Frustum: l = √(h² + (R − r)²)
Both come from Pythagoras applied to the cross-section.
Quick sanity checks
- Sphere: SA/V ratio = 3/r ⇒ small sphere has much more surface per unit volume (why raindrops evaporate fast).
- Cone volume = ⅓ of a cylinder with same base and height.
- Doubling all linear dimensions multiplies SA by 4 and V by 8.
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