How to Find the Volume of a Piece of Paper

You might think that it would be quite difficult to find the volume of a single piece of paper. However, finding the volume of a piece of paper is really very simple. Follow these steps to use a stack of papers to find the volume of a single piece.

Things You'll Need

• Stack of paper
• Pencil
• Scrap paper
• Calculator (optional)
• Ruler

Instructions

1. Organize the stack of paper. The stack of paper needs to be composed of the type of paper that you are trying to find the volume of. To organize the stack, have all the sheets facing the same way. Tap them on a hard flat surface, such as a desk or counter, to make sure all the sheets are properly aligned.

2. Lay the nowly organized stack of paper on a desk or counter.

3. Measure the height, width, and depth of the stack of paper. Write all of these measurements down.

4. Use the equation, "Height" X "Width" X "Depth" = "Volume" to determine the volume of the stack of paper. For example, let's say, I have a stack of 50 pieces of paper. Each paper is 8 inches by 11.5 inches and the height of the stack is 1 inch. To find the volume of this stack of paper, multiply each value. The answer is 92 inches cubed.

5. Divide the volume of your stack of paper by the number of sheets in the stack to get the volume of a single sheet of paper. So, the volume of a single sheet of paper that is 8 inches by 11.5 inches is 1.84" cubed. This is because the height of the stack of papers is actually made up of the height of each single piece of paper.

Tips & Warnings

• Larger stacks of paper may make your height measurement easier to obtain. However, remember, you will have to count all those sheets of paper. Thus, you may prefer a shorter stack of paper so you don't have to count so many sheets.