What science tools do we need to find the density of the object? What do each of them measure?

1 Answer
anor277
Nov 29, 2016

#"Density"#, #rho#, is defined as mass per unit volume.....

Explanation:

And thus #rho="Mass"/"Volume"#. And thus #rho# has units of #g*mL^-1# or #g*cm^-3# (these are the typical units that chemists employ).

Now #"mass"# is easy to measure on a set of scales. Volume is not so accessible with irregularly shaped objects. Of course, we could measure the volume by water displacement, but again, you have to mop up all the water on the floor afterwards.

Whether an object floats or sinks in water is a measurement of density to a first approximation. How?

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