Volume of Arms and Fingers

Estimate the volume and surface area of one of your arms and one of your fingers. You can estimate the volume by estimating the volume of different segments and then adding these segments up. For example, you can estimate the volume of your finger by using a cylinder. The height is easy to measure. It is harder to measure the radius of your finger, but easy to measure the circumference, C = 2pr. To find the radius, take the circumference and divide by 2p. Now you can estimate the volume of your finger.

Explain what segments you estimated and how you used these to arrive at the total volume and surface area of your arm and finger.

Find the ratio of the volume to surface area of your arm and the ratio of the volume to surface area of your finger. Compare these two ratios. What observations can you make about these ratios?