1.4 Common 3D shapes

You will be familiar with some common 3D shapes.

Figure 8 3D shapes

Hint: Make sure you understand the difference between a cube (3D square) and a cuboid (3D rectangle).

Some other 3D shapes that you may come across are shown in Figure 9.

Figure 9 3D shapes

Now try the following activity.

Activity 4: Properties of 3D shapes

  1. The sides of 3D shapes are known as faces. Complete the following table:

Shape Number of faces
Cube
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Square-based pyramid
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Sphere
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Cylinder
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Cuboid
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Cone
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Triangular-based pyramid
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Triangular prism
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Answer

Shape Number of faces
Cube 6
Square-based pyramid 5
Sphere 1
Cylinder 3
Cuboid 6
Cone 2
Triangular-based pyramid 4
Triangular prism 5

As well as faces, 3D shapes also have edges and vertices (corners):

  1. Complete the following table:

Shape Number of edges Number of vertices
Cube
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Square-based pyramid
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Sphere
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Cylinder
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(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Cuboid
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(A text entry box would appear here, but your browser does not support it.)
Cone
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Triangular-based pyramid
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Triangular prism
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Answer

Shape Number of edges Number of vertices
Cube 12 8
Square-based pyramid 8 5
Sphere 0 0
Cylinder 2 0
Cuboid 12 8
Cone 1 1
Triangular-based pyramid 6 4
Triangular prism 9 6
A sphere has just one curved face, so it has no edges or vertices.

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