Answer :

*This answer only makes sense if the side length is a whole number and not a decimal
**With the information provided, I can only solve (to my best capabilities) this problem if we take side length to mean length of the rectangle as opposed to width.

Area of a rectangle=width*length
96 can is only be divisible by 8 or 12 (from our choices).
The length cannot be 8, because then the width would have to be 12 for the area to be 96. The width cannot be longer than the length.
Thus, I will go with 12 or choice B.