Density Investigations

1. An older penny, minted before 1982, is made of pure copper.  If the density of copper is 8.9 g/cm³, what is the mass of the penny if its volume is 0.35 cm³.

2. Using a triple beam balance, find the mass of a copper penny.  Using this as the experimental value, find the % error between your measured value and the theoretical value from part A.

1. A newer penny, minted after 1982, is mostly zinc.  If the volume of a penny is 0.35 cm³ and the density of zinc is 7.14 g/cm³, what is the theoretical mass of the penny?

2. Using a triple beam balance, find the mass of a zinc penny.  Using this as the experimental value, find the % error between your measured value and the theoretical value from part A.

1. If a block of ice (density = 0.917 g/cm³) measures 10.0 cm by 5.0 cm by 7.5 cm, what will its mass be?  Remember that the volume of a rectangular solid is length x width x height.

2. The block of ice is cut in half. Does its density change? Explain.

3. Does ice (density = 0.917 g/cm³) sink or float in water (density = 1.00 g/cm³)?

4. Using a syringe (to measure volume) and a triple beam balance (to measure mass), find the experimental density of water.

5. If the theoretical density of water is 1.0 g/cm³, what is the % error?

1. Lead is a soft metal that has high density. Find the density of the piece of lead at your table. You can find the volume of the lead using water displacement.

2. If the theoretical value for the density of lead is 11.4 g/cm³, how much error is there between your experimental value and the theoretical value?

3. Explain, using density, why lead is used to make sinkers for fishing.

Gasoline (density = 0.67 g/cm³) will not mix with water. Draw a diagram showing gasoline and water. Label each liquid.