Erica is making homemade granola bars. She wants to cover each granola bar with a thin layer of chocolate. In order to figure out how much chocolate is needed, she needs to calculate the surface area of each granola bar. The bars are shaped like rectangular prisms. Each bar has a length of 6.5 inches, a width of 1.5 inches, and a height of 1 inch.

To calculate the surface area of a rectangular prism, you need to find the area of each of the six faces and then add them together.

The formula for the surface area of a rectangular prism is:
Surface Area = 2lw + 2lh + 2wh

Plugging in the values given:
Surface Area = 2(6.5 x 1.5) + 2(6.5 x 1) + 2(1.5 x 1)
Surface Area = 2(9.75) + 2(6.5) + 2(1.5)
Surface Area = 19.5 + 13 + 3
Surface Area = 35.5 square inches

So, the surface area of each granola bar is 35.5 square inches. This is the amount of chocolate needed to cover each granola bar with a thin layer.