Vocabulary - 3D Shapes

The vocabulary associated with 3D shapes is fundamental for students to understand and visualise geometric concepts. These terms encompass a variety of shapes and their properties. Basic 3D shapes include the 'cube', which has equal sides, and the 'cuboid', resembling a box shape. The 'pyramid' has a base that can be of various shapes with triangular sides converging at a point. Other shapes such as the 'sphere', a perfectly round shape, and the 'hemisphere', which is half of a sphere, are also key terms. The 'cone' and 'cylinder' are shapes with circular bases, the former tapering to a point and the latter having parallel circular ends.

Further vocabulary includes 'prism', which is a polyhedron with two parallel faces called bases and additional faces that are parallelograms. The term 'vertex' refers to a corner where edges meet, with 'vertices' being the plural form. The 'face' is a flat surface on a 3D shape, while an 'edge' is a line where two faces meet. 'Surface' can refer to any exterior part of a 3D shape, which can be 'flat' or 'curved'. The terms 'straight', 'hollow', and 'solid' describe the lines, the interior, and the mass of the shapes, respectively, while 'three-dimensional' emphasises the depth aspect in addition to length and width. Shapes such as 'spherical' and 'cylindrical' describe the form of objects similar to spheres and cylinders, whereas 'tetrahedron' is a type of polyhedron with four triangular faces. 'Polyhedra' is the plural of polyhedron, and 'horizontal', 'vertical', and 'perpendicular' describe orientations and relationships between lines or planes. Lastly, 'parallel' denotes lines or planes that never meet, and a 'cross-section' is the intersection of a solid and a plane.