# Mercury, which is often used in thermometers, has a density of 13.534 g/mL at room temperature. What volume of mercury contains 10.0 g?

Mar 5, 2016

$\text{0.739 mL}$

#### Explanation:

A substance's density basically tells you how much mass of said substance occupies one unit of volume.

In your case, the density of mercury is given in Grams per milliliter, ${\text{g mL}}^{- 1}$, which means that it expresses the mass of mercury in $\text{1 mL}$ of mercury.

So, mercury is said to have a density of ${\text{13.534 g mL}}^{- 1}$, which means that $\text{1 mL}$ of mercury has a mass of $\text{13.534 g}$.

You want to know the volume of mercury that will contain $\text{10.0 g}$ of the element. Since your sample is lighter than the mass associated with $\text{1 mL}$, you can expect its volume to be smaller than $\text{1 mL}$.

You can use dimensional analysis using the density of mercury as a conversion factor

$10.0 \textcolor{red}{\cancel{\textcolor{b l a c k}{\text{g"))) * overbrace("1 mL"/(13.534color(red)(cancel(color(black)("g")))))^(color(purple)("given density")) = color(green)(|bar(ul("0.739 mL}}} |}$

The answer is rounded to three **sig figs, the number of sig figs you have for the mass of your sample.