Density Lab

Essay by PaperNerd ContributorCollege, Undergraduate November 2001

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DENSITY LAB The purpose of the density lab was to show the easiest way on how to find density of an unknown piece of metal and to find out the kind of metal it is.

The procedures were as follows: First we took an abject and weighed it and got the objects mass in grams on a scale. Then we took each object and measured its volume by using water displacement. To do this you have to take a graduated cylinder and put any amount of water in it until you feel necessary to stop putting water in it. Then you record the amount of water. Mark it with a marker so you know where the line is. Then you put the object in and measure how much the water rose from the original amount. However many milliliters it has rose is the volume. Then you get density by dividing the mass by the volume and then you get the density in grams/cm cubed.

In conclusion we came to an understanding that the first object we measured came to be 5.9 g/cm cubed which means that it is most likely tin. The second object we used was 7.5 g/cm cubed which most likely is iron and the third object came out to be 7.5 g/cm cubed which we thought is most likely going be iron again.

The Validity of this lab is good. Our densities were a little off because of the scale we had to use. It wasn't as accurate as a real scale. But if you need a scale use an electronic one. I recommend a true scale. It could have been the scales fault or we could of not been careful enough and not get the correct information.