Cubes are solid three-dimensional figures that have 6 faces, 12 edges, and 8 vertices. The faces of the cubes are square and meet four other faces at right angles. The cube is the only regular hexahedron, that is, with six equal faces. Furthermore, the cube is also one of the five platonic solids.
Here, we will learn about the elements of cubes in more detail. We will look at a description of faces, vertices and edges. We will use diagrams to illustrate the concepts.
Faces found in a cube
A face is any of the flat surfaces of a cube. Cubes are made up of six square faces. Since a cube is a regular hexahedron, all the faces have the same shape and the same area. Another characteristic of the faces found in a cube is that each one touches four other faces and forms right angles, that is, 90-degree angles.
If we add the areas of the six faces of the cube, we will be calculating its surface area. We know that each square area has an area of a², where, a represents the length of one of the sides of the cube. This means that the formula for the surface area of a cube is 6a².
Vertices found in a cube
A vertex is a point where two or more than two line segments meet. In the case of cubes, the vertices are the points where three edges meet. We can also consider the vertices as the points where three faces of the cube meet. The cubes are made up of 8 vertices.
Edges found in a cube
Edges are line segments at the boundaries of the cube. Edges join a vertex (corner point) of a cube with another vertex. We can also consider the edges as the line segments where two faces of the cube meet. A cube has a total of 12 edges.
In the following figure, we can see that each face has four edges and each edge is shared by two faces of the cube.
See also
Interested in learning more about cubes? Take a look at these pages:
Jefferson Huera Guzman
Jefferson is the lead author and administrator of Neurochispas.com. The interactive Mathematics and Physics content that I have created has helped many students.
