The humble soda can gets the geometric treatment in an activity that links math and science calculations. After a few basic assumptions are made and discussed, surface area calculations combine with density information to develop an estimation for the thickness of the walls of the can. A great activity for developing measurement intuition, with the familiarity of the objects supporting the calculations in the metric system.

Concepts

density, math modeling, surface area of cylinders, estimation

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Additional Tags

math

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Instructional Ideas

• Provide different densities of material to further develop the relationship between thickness and density
• Have the class propose different shapes for soda cans, using the same amount of raw aluminum material
• Suggested extensions include finding dimensions and mass of an actual soda can, and further investigating the assumption that the can is a cylinder

Classroom Considerations

• Providing density in English units would remove the unit conversion portion of this problem
• If units are left in metric, converting between magnitudes (mm to cm for example) might need more careful treatment than the answer key gives

Pros

• Clear discussion of simplifying assumptions
• Multi-step process pulls together unit conversions, surface area, and density considerations
• Great use of common materials as the basis for calculations

Cons

• Teacher notes and answer key not clearly separated from the class activity

Common Core

HSG-MG.A.1 HSG-MG.A.2