Making 3D Shapes Using Nets

We come across a number of objects of different shapes and sizes in our day to day life. There are golf balls, door mats, ice-cream cones, coke cans and so on. These objects have different characteristic properties such as length, breadth, diameter, etc. which set them apart from one another. But no matter how different their dimensions are, all of them occupy space and have three dimensions. So they are referred to as three-dimensional or solid shapes.

What is a Net?

A net is a flattened out three-dimensional solid. It is the basic skeleton outline in two dimensions, which can be folded and glued together to obtain the 3D structure.

Nets for Making 3D Shapes

Nets are used for making 3D shapes. Let us have a look at nets for different solids.

• Cuboid: Take a match box. Cut along the edges and flatten out the box. This is the net for cuboid. Now if you fold it back and glue it together in the similar fashion as you opened it, you get the cuboid.

• Cube: Take a cheese cube box and cut it out along the edges to make the net for a cube.

• Cone: Take a birthday cap which is conical in shape. When you cut a slit along its slant surface, you get a net for cone.

• Cylinder: When you cut along the curved surface of any cylindrical jar, you get a net for cylinder. The net consists of two circles for the base and the top and a rectangle for the curved surface.

• Pyramid: The net for a pyramid with a square base consists of a square with triangles along its four edges.