28.5 g of iron shot is added to a graduated cylinder containing 45.50 ml of water. The water level rises to the 49.10 mL mark, from this information, calculate the density of iron?

1 Answer
Apr 1, 2018

The density of iron is #"7.92 g/mL"# or #"7.92 g/cm"^3"#.

Explanation:

Density is mass per unit volume. The formula for density is:

#"density"="mass"/"volume"#

When you have an irregular solid, you can determine its volume using water displacement. When the solid is added to a known volume of water, the water level in the graduated cylinder increases. The volume of the solid is the difference between the final volume and the initial volume of water in mL.

Volume of iron

#"49.10 mL"-"45.50 mL"="3.60 mL"#

The volume of the iron shot is #"3.60 mL"#.

Density of iron

#"density"=("28.5 g")/("3.60 mL")="7.92 g/mL"#

Since #"1 mL"##=##"1 cm"^3"#, you can also report the density of iron as #"7.92 g/cm"^3"#.