The density of liquid mercury is 13.53 g/cm^3. The density of copper is 8.96 g/cm^3. Would you expect a piece of copper to sink or float when placed in a container of liquid mercury?

1 Answer
Feb 21, 2018

It will float.

Explanation:

The density of copper is #8.96 \ "g/cm"^3#, and the density of liquid mercury is #13.53 \ "g/cm"^3#. We now can compare the two densities.

We have:

#8.96<13.53#

#<=>8.96 \ "g/cm"^3<13.53 \ "g/cm"^3#

#=>rho_"Cu(s)"< \ rho_"Hg(l)"#

where #rho# is the density of the substance

Since the density of solid copper is less than of liquid mercury, a piece of copper will float in liquid mercury.