What is density?

Question

I need descriptions of density that a ten year old can understand.

Answer 1

It depends on how much something weighs and how big it is. Water has a density of one. If the thing is lighter than the same amount of water, it has a density of less than one and will float. If it weighs more than the same amount of water, it has a density greater than one and will sink..

Answer 2

I've given you a few links, one has pictures. I've also given you some examples.

My example:
Go into a restaurant and ask for a cube of butter. But instead of getting cube of butter you get whipped butter. It looks the same but the density is different. Whipped butter has air & ice added to it. The whipped butter will weigh less than the actual butter. The mass or density has been changed. You feel like you're getting enough butter and the restaurant is using less. There their profits increase.

My example:
You could go to McDonald's and purchase two milk shakes. One you freeze the other you put in refrigerator. Come back the next day and you will see the difference of the shakes. Both are the same size shakes but now they have changed. The one in the freezer is less dense. The air has been taken out of the one in the refrigerator therefore it is more dense or compressed. They will still weigh the same all you have lost is air.

Here are some examples I found on the web.

For example: A rock is obviously more dense than a crumpled piece of paper of the same size.
A styrofoam cup is less dense than a ceramic cup.

Density may also refer to how closely "packed" or "crowded" the material appears to be - again refer to the styrofoam vs. ceramic cup.

Density Comparison to Water: In chemistry, the density of many substances is compared to the density of water. Does an object float on water or sink in the water? If an object such as a piece of wood floats on water it is less dense than water vs. if a rock sinks, it is more dense than water.

Oil and vinegar salad dressing: The oil floats on the vinegar water mixture, while the solids sink to the bottom.
Oil spills: What happens when an oil tanker leaks on the ocean? The oil floats on the water since it is less dense, and this provides some opportunity to clean up the oil spills by skimming the oil from the surface of the water.

Answer 3

A density is a measurement of a size versus mass.

Answer 4

density = mass / volume

Density is just a measure of how much mass a substance has per unit of volume. The more dense something is, the more mass it has. Air is not very dense at all, but metal is very dense. Density is a constant, for example the density of water is always 1. This means that for 1 mililiter of water, its mass is 1 gram, and if their are 10 mililiters, the mass is 10 grams.

Answer 5

try clicking the link below, there are about 20 or 30 different definitions. I am sure that one of them would be understandable to a ten year old.

Answer 6

For a 10 year old...The weight of something compared to the weight of an equal volume of fresh water

Answer 7

How hard something is.


*Note this answer is totally un scientificlly approached, but the only way a child would understand*

Answer 8

How close togather the particals in it are.

kinda like thickness

density = Mass/Volume

if you need any more help - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Density

hope it helps
LLAP!

Answer 9

Weight divided by size.

Answer 10

mass per unit volume.
weight of something in a given space.