2007-01-21 12:20:14 · 4 answers · asked by Nina T 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Chemistry
Using Density = Mass/Volume to do the calculation, the mass of either a metal or a liquid is easy to obtain to at least 4 decimal places.
The volume measurement is the problem. The volume of a liquid can be measured very accurately (for most liquids) because it takes the shape of the container.
The metal is likely not to be a regular cube, but an irregular shape. It would be difficult to measure the volume directly. The most common solution is to place the piece of metal into a liquid (like water) and measure the volume of the water that the metal displaced.
2007-01-21 12:32:30 · answer #1 · answered by Richard 7 · 11⤊ 0⤋
It seems like you have a higher percentage error measuring a solid rather than a liquid. This would occur if you are directly measuring the solid volume, using a ruler or something similar. There would be errors if the solid did not have perfectly straight sides or from the measuring device.
If you measure the solid volume using water displacement (place the solid in a volumetric cylinder with water and see how much the liquid level rises), then there should be no difference in percent error compared to a liquid
2007-01-21 12:28:23 · answer #2 · answered by reb1240 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Probably because the metal sample isn't 100% pure. The traces could lead to % errors in the density values.
2007-01-21 12:29:13 · answer #3 · answered by Dr Dave P 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I could probably answer this question if I could make sense of it. I teach chemistry and physics.
Reevaluate your sentence structure. Messenger me the question on Yahoo messenger and I'll help you with it. My ID is
fortitudinousskeptic
2007-01-21 12:23:18 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋