Definition:Surface Area

Definition

Surface area is the measure of the total area of the surface of a body.

It has two dimensions and is specified in units of length squared.

Hence the term square as a general vague term for a quantity in two dimensions.

It is a scalar quantity.

Symbol

The usual symbols used to denote the surface area of a body are $S$ or $A$.

Dimension

Area is a dimension of measurement of physics.

The dimension of area is:

$L^2$

length squared.

Units

• The SI unit of area is the square metre $\mathrm m^2$.
• The CGS unit of area is the square centimetre $\mathrm {cm}^2$.

Thus:

$1 \ \mathrm m^2 = 10^4 \ \mathrm {cm}^2$

Also known as

The term superficial area can sometimes be found in older texts to mean surface area.