Brandon Kreiser Lab Partner: Chant Beard 10/19/2011 Pd.

5 Searching for Regularity The purpose of this lab was to enhance ones understanding of density. Density can be defined as an inverse proportion of the volume and mass of an object. In laymens terms density is the amount of material, or stuff, in a proposed space with a proposed mass. In this experiment electronic scale were used as well as graduated cylinders, water, aluminum. and copper. The first step required finding the masses of the pieces of copper. After the copper masses were found, the volume of the same pieces of copper needed to be determined using water displacement. Then, the masses and volumes of the pieces of aluminum were found using the same methods used on the copper. After this data was collected it was organized and combined with the other nine experiments data. This allowed for the data to be compared for accuracy and for it to be utilized in a graph for a better understanding of the relationships between density, mass, and volume. The following graph has the ten different groups experiment results which is then turned into two graphs showing the relationship of mass and volume to density.

Mass Al 5.79 5.27 8.3 3.84 5.99 5 3.08 5.52 10.16 2.91

Volume Al 2.25 1.97 2.95 1.35 2.2 1.69 1.02 1.8 3.49 0.96

Mass Cu 19.63 16.55 8.47 9.37 22.62 13.92 20.55 7.23 10.26 10

Volume Cu 2.2 1.83 0.9 1 2.5 1.52 1.32 0.7 1.1 1.2

Brandon Kreiser Lab Partner: Chant Beard 10/19/2011 Pd. 5

The following graphs show the relationship between mass and volume in the two experiments of copper and aluminum. The points in the middle of the graph are the different groups densities. The black line in the middle of the points represents the line of best fit relating to the average density of all the points together.

4 3.5 3 Volume (in mL) 2.5 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 2 4

Aluminum

6 Mass (in grams)

10

12

Slope=2.77

3 2.5 Volume (in mL) 2 1.5 1 0.5 0 0 5

Copper

10

15

20

25

Slope=8.40

Mass (in grams)

Brandon Kreiser Lab Partner: Chant Beard 10/19/2011 Pd. 5 At first the density of the copper and aluminum needed to be found using the data collected in the experiment. The density is found by dividing the substances mass by its volume (D=M/V). The density of the copper was found to be 8.72g/mL while the density of the aluminum was found to be 2.57g/mL. Copper Mass Volume 19.63g 2.20mL 8.92g/mL 5.79g 2.25mL Aluminum 2.57g/mL

The actual accepted value of the density of copper is 8.96g/mL and the accepted value of aluminum is 2.69g/mL. This means that the experiments results had some small error. The experimental density of copper had .45% error. The experimental density of aluminum had 4.46% error. The percent error was found by taking the experimental value minus the accepted value. Then that number is divided by the accepted value which is multiplied by 100 to get the percent error. The slope of the lines in the graphs were found to be 2.77 for the aluminum and 8.40 for the copper. Microsoft excel was used to find the slopes of these lines. The slopes of the lines represents an inverse relationship with mass, volume, and density. They show that as density increases the mass and volume will also increase in a proportional manner. The same relationship occurs if the density is decreased. The slopes also show that as volume and mass increase the same proportional relationship as previously discussed is shared with density. The slope lines should pass through the point (0,0) since this point represent no

Brandon Kreiser Lab Partner: Chant Beard 10/19/2011 Pd. 5 volume and no mass. This would simply equate to there being no density since nothing would be there. This lab shows that with all substances they all share a similar proportional relationship between mass, volume, and density. Volume can be more accurately found by using water displacement rather than trying to measure all the dimensions of the object. This is because if an object does not have flat proportional sides the dimensions can be very difficult to find. Water displacement corrects for this error and eliminates the chance to not accurately measure the object. One possible source of error in this experiment could be that the instruments used may not be accurate. This error can be corrected by using more precise measuring tools. Mathematical errors may also have a part in possible error. Simply by double checking answers and being careful can help avoid this error. After performing this experiment and following the lab instructions someone can obtain a better perceptive of the properties of density. One would have a clear understanding of the inverse and proportional relationship that volume and mass have with density. By studying the graphs and measuring to find the answers to the lab questions anyone will gain a better outlook toward density.