Pictorial Nets of Three Dimensional Shapes
Please watch this short video about how 3D shapes are made up of net shapes.
Use the applet below to explore how nets form three dimensional shapes.
Exploring the properties of net shapes.
Begin by moving the red slider from left to right. Observe how the net forms the three dimensional shape of a cube. Move the red slider back to the left. Now begin changing the pattern of the net by moving the blue slider. Notice that though the pattern of the net changes, the different patterns still form a cube by moving the red slider from left to right.
Now use the following applet to explore how the net shape forms a cylinder.
And this net shape of a cone.
Classifying three-dimensional shapes.
There are three main elements that can be used when classifying three-dimensional shapes. These elements consist of faces, edges and vertices. Watch the following short video clip for an explanation of these three elements and how they are used to classify three-dimensional shapes.
Faces, edges and vertices: classifying three-dimensional shapes.
Faces of net shapes.
Which shape has the most circular faces?
Edges of three-dimensional shapes.
Which shape has the least number of edges.
Vertices of three-dimensional shapes.
Which of the shapes has the most number of vertices?