How to Calculate Polyester Film Surface Area

Knowing the surface area of a sheet of polyester film will tell you how large of a space it will cover. Polyester film is used as a lamination to protect books and surfaces. Generally, the transparency of polyester film allows whatever is beneath its covering to be seen. The surface area a sheet of polyester film will cover depends on its length and width. Typical units for surface area include square inches and square feet.

Things You'll Need

• Tape measure
• Calculator

Instructions

1. Unroll the sheet of polyester film so it lays flat.

2. Measure the length of the polyester film in inches. For example, assume a length of 400 inches.

3. Measure the width of the polyester film in inches. For example, assume the sheet of polyester film is 30 inches wide.

4. Multiply the length by the width to obtain the surface area of the polyester film in square inches. For example, 400 inches times 30 inches equals an area of 12,000 square inches.

5. Divide the area of the polyester film by 144 to change to square feet, as a single square foot contains 144 square inches. Completing the example, 12,000 square inches divided by 144 square inches per square foot equals a surface area of 83.3 square feet.

References

• Tekra: Polyester Films
• Wolfram MathWorld: Area
• The Engineering ToolBox: Unit Converter with the Most Common Units