The surface area of a rectangular prism is calculated by finding the area of each face and then adding them all together.
In this case, we need to calculate the area of each face:
- The top and bottom faces each have dimensions of 131m x 260m = 33,860m^2
- The front and back faces each have dimensions of 131m x 20.5m = 2,681.5m^2
- The left and right faces each have dimensions of 260m x 20.5m = 5,330m^2
Now, add all the areas together:
33,860m^2(top/bottom) + 2(2,681.5m^2)(front/back) + 2(5,330m^2)(left/right)
= 33,860m^2 + 5,363m^2 + 10,660m^2
= 49,923m^2
Therefore, the surface area of this rectangular prism is 49,923 square meters.