Tetrahedron Facts for Kids

A rotating tetrahedron

A tetrahedron is a 3D shape that looks like a pyramid. Imagine a shape with four flat sides, and all of these sides are triangles! It has four corners, which are the points where its edges meet. It also has six edges, which are the lines connecting the corners. In a special type of tetrahedron, all these edges are the same length. Every two edges meet at a corner, forming a 60-degree angle.

Understanding a Regular Tetrahedron

A regular tetrahedron is a special kind of tetrahedron where all its edges are exactly the same length. This means all its four triangular faces are also exactly the same size and shape. If we call the length of one edge a, we can use some cool math formulas to find out things like its total surface area or how much space it takes up (its volume).

Here are some formulas for a regular tetrahedron, where 'a' is the length of one edge:

Formulas for a Regular Tetrahedron
Surface area	${\sqrt{3}}a^2\,$
Face area	$\frac{\sqrt{3}}{4}a^2\,$
Height	$\sqrt{\frac23}\,a\,$ and $\frac{\sqrt{6}}{3}a$
Volume	$\frac{a^3}{6\sqrt{2}}\,$ and $\frac{\sqrt{2}}{12}a^3$