Question #12fd0

1 Answer
Feb 11, 2015

Your container will weigh #"3547.4 g"#, or #"3550 g"# - rounded to three sig figs.

So, you have all the information you need to determine the weight of the container, including how much it weighs empty. However, notice that the dimensions of the container were given to you in inches, while the density of the alcohol was given in #"g/mL"#.

This means that you must perform a unit conversion to get the proper units needed for density. Since you're dealing with a rectangular prism, the volume of the container will be

#V_("container") = "8.00 in" * "6.00 in" * "5.00 in" = 240. "in"^3#

I'll convert cubic inches to mililiters in order to get the proper unit for volume

#"240. in"^3 * ("16.387 mL")/("1 in"^3) = "3933 mL"#

Now use the formula for density to determine how much that volume of alcohol weighs

#rho = m/V => m_("alcohol") = rho * V_("container") = "0.86 g/mL" * "3933 mL"#

#m_("alcohol") = "3382 g"#

The total mass of the container will be the sum of the two masses

#m_("TOTAL") = m_("empty") + m_("alcohol") = "3547.4 g" = "3550 g"#

SIDE NOTE I recommend solving the problem by converting inches to centimeters. This will give you the volume in #"cm"^3#, which you'd then convert to #"mL"# #-># #"1 cm"^3 = "1 mL"#. The result has to be the same.