Experiment No.

(1)
Density and Specific Gravity
Goals or objectives
• To Calculate the density of a substance from measurements of its mass
and volume.
• To Calculate the specific gravity of a liquid from its density.

Theory:
A. Density of a Solid
To determine the density of a substance, you need to measure both its
mass and its volume. From the mass and volume, the density is
calculated. If the mass is measured in grams and the volume in milliliters,
the density will have the units of g/mL.

B. Density of a Liquid
To determine the density of a liquid, you need the mass and volume of
the liquid. The mass of a liquid is determined by weighing. The mass of a
container is obtained and then a certain volume of liquid is added and the
combined mass determined. Subtracting the mass of the container gives
the mass of the liquid. From the mass and volume, the density is
calculated.

C. Specific Gravity
The specific gravity of a liquid is a comparison of the density of that
liquid with the density of water, which is 1.00 g/mL at (15°C).

Specific gravity is a number with no units; the units of density (g/mL)

have canceled out.

D. Graphing Mass and Volume

When a group of experimental quantities are determined, a graph can be
prepared that gives a pictorial representation of the data. After a data
table is prepared, a series of steps are followed to construct a graph.

Experimental Procedures:
A. Density of a Solid
Materials: Metal object, string or thread, graduated cylinder.
A.1 Mass of the solid: Obtain a solid metal object. Determine its mass
and record.
A.2 Volume of the solid by displacement: Obtain a graduated cylinder
that is large enough to hold the solid metal object. Add water until the
cylinder is about half full. Read the water level carefully and record. If
the solid object is heavy, lower it into the water by attaching a string or
thread. While the solid object is submerged in the water, record the final
water level. Calculate the volume of the solid.

Volume of solid = Final water level – initial water level.

A.3 Calculating the density of the solid: Calculate the density (g/mL) of
the solid by dividing its mass (g) by its volume (mL). Be sure to
determine the correct number of significant figures in your calculated
density value.

B. Density of a Liquid
Materials: 50-mL graduated cylinder, two liquid samples, 100-mL or
250-mL beaker, and thermometer.
B.1 Volume of liquid: Place about 20 mL of water in a 50-mL graduated
cylinder. Record. (Do not use the markings on beakers to measure
volume; they are not precise.)
B.2 Mass of liquid: The mass of a liquid is found by weighing by
difference. First, determine the mass of a small, dry beaker. Put the liquid
into the beaker, and reweigh. Record the combined mass. Calculate the
mass of the liquid.
Net mass of liquid = mass of (beaker+liquid) – initial mass of beaker.

B.3 Density of liquid: Calculate the density of the liquid by dividing its
mass (g) by the volume (mL) of the liquid.
Repeat the same procedure for another liquid provided in the laboratory.

C. Specific Gravity of a Liquid

Materials: Water, liquids used in part B in graduated cylinders with
hydrometers.
C.1 Calculate the specific gravity (SG) of each liquid you used in B.
Divide its density by the standard density of water (1.00 g/mL).
C.2 Read the hydrometer set in a graduated cylinder containing the same
liquid you used in the density section. Record. Some hydrometers use the
European decimal point, which is a comma. The value 1,000 on a
European scale is read as 1.000. Record specific gravity as a decimal
number.

D. Graphing Mass and Volume

Materials: Metal pieces such as Copper, and 50-mL graduated cylinder.
In this graphing activity, we will show the relationship between the mass
and volume of a substance. The volume and mass of three different
samples of the same substance will be measured.
After the data for the samples are collected, the mass and volume of each
sample will be used to prepare a graph. The density (g/mL) will be
visually represented on a graph.
D.1 Place about 25 mL of water in a 50-mL graduated cylinder. Carefully
record the initial mass and volume of water.
D.2 Place the copper and water on a top-loading balance and determine
their mass. Record.
D.3 Add two or three pieces of same metal. Record the new level of the
water and record the new mass. (Subtract the initial volume of water from
new water level to determine the volume of the metal pieces). (Determine
the mass of the metal pieces by subtracting the initial mass from this
combined mass). At each time record the resulting water level and the
new mass. Repeat this process for a total of three sets of data.
D.4 Prepare a graph by plotting the mass (g) of the metal pieces on the
vertical axis (y) and the volume (mL) of the metal pieces on the
horizontal axis (x). Use a ruler to draw a line through the points you have
plotted. If some of the points fall off the line, run the line between them
so you have as many points above the line as you have below the line.
Draw a smooth line through the points.
D.5 The slope of the line on the graph represents the density of the metal.
Mark two places on the line. Divide the difference between the two mass
values by the difference of the two values for volume.

Discussions:
1. Whatproperty of oil makes it float on water?
2. Why would heating the gas in an air balloon make the balloon rise?
3. What is the difference between density and specific gravity?
4. How does a graph help us interpret scientific data?
5. An object made of aluminum has a mass of 8.37 g. When it was placed
in a graduated cylinder containing 20.0 mL of water, the water level
rise to 23.1 mL. Calculate the density and specific gravity of the object.
6.What is the mass of a solution that has a density of 0.775 g/mL and a
volume of 50.0 mL?
7.What is the volume of a solution that has a specific gravity of 1.2 and a
mass of 185 g?
8. If we have salt water and fresh water in one container, which one of
them is float above the other?
9. If we heated the fresh water to 80 oC, is the density is becomes higher
or lower than it value at standard conditions?
10. if we heated the liquid, is the specific gravity is increased or
decreased with temperature rise?

Sample of Calculation
A. Density of a Solid
A.1 Mass of the solid _____________________

A.2 Volume of the solid by displacement

Initial water level (mL) _____________________

Final water level with solid (mL) _____________________

Volume of solid (mL) _____________________

A.3 Calculating the density of the solid _____________________ g/mL

A.4 Type of metal _____________________

B. Density of a Liquid
B.1 Volume of liquid Liquid 1 Liquid 2
Type of liquid ___________________ ___________________

Volume (mL) ___________________ ___________________

B.2 Mass of liquid
Mass of beaker ___________________ ___________________

Mass of beaker + liquid ___________________ ___________________

Mass of liquid ___________________ ___________________

B.3 Density of liquid
Density ___________________ ___________________
C. Specific Gravity
Specific gravity ____________________ ___________________
(Calculated using B.3)
 D. Graphing Mass and Volume
D.1 Type of metal ________________________
Initial volume of water (mL) ________________________
D.2 Initial mass of cylinder + water (g) ________________________
D.3 Mass of Metal Pieces Final Volume Total Volume of Metal (mL)

______________ g ________________ mL

______________ g ________________ mL

______________ g ________________ mL

______________ g ________________ mL

______________ g ________________ mL

Mass vs Volume

Mass

Volume
 Primary units

Items British SI Conversion MLT FLT

Unit unit factor system system
Mass slug kg 1slug=14.6 kg M FL-1 T2
Length Foot(ft) Meter(m) 1ft=0.3m L L
Time Second(s) Second(s) 1s=1s T T
Temperature Rankine(R) Kelvin(K) 1K=1.8R Ɵ Ɵ
1inch=2.54 cm , 1mL=1cm3
1 mile=1.6km
Kinematic viscosity, 1Stoke(cm2/s)=10-4m2/s
1ct Stoke(cm2/s)=10-6m2/s
Dynamic viscosity, 1poise=10-1(kg.s/m)
Secondary units

Items British SI Conversion MLT FLT

Unit unit factor system system
Area ft2 m2 1m2=10.7ft2 L2 L2
velocity ft/s m/s 1ft/s=0.3m/s LT-1 LT-1
Acceleration Ft/s2 m/s2 1ft/s2=0.3m/s2 LT-2 LT-2
Density Slug/ft3 Kg/m3 1Slug/ft3=515kg/m3 ML-3 FL-4 T2
Dynamic Ib.s/ft2 N.s/m2 1Ib.s/ft2=47.88N.s/m2 ML-1T-1 FL-2 T
Viscosity
Kinematic Ft2/s m2/s L2 T-1 L2 T-1
viscosity
Force Ib N 1Ib=4.44N MLT-2 F
Energy or Ib.ft N.m 1Ib.ft=1.35N.m ML2 T-2 FL
Work
Pressure or Ib/ft2 N/m2 1Ib/ft2=47.88N/m2 ML-1 T-2 FL-2
stress
Power Ib.ft/s N.m/s 1Ib.ft/s=1.35N.m/s ML2T-3 FLT-1
Surface tension Ib/ft N/m MT-2 FL-1
Specific weight Ib/ft3 N/m3 ML-2T-2 FL-3
Modulus of Ib/ft2 N/m2 1Ib/ft2=47.88N/m2 ML-1 T-2 FL-2
elasticity
Specific heat ft2/s2.R m2/s2.K 1m2/s2.K=5.98ft2/s2.R L2T-2Ɵ L2T-2Ɵ