Students are to complete pages 16-18 in their Science Notebook as a preparation for their activity on calculating density of small objects.
Students will practice on six different small objects to determine the mass and the volume of each object, and then derive the density of each object that is based upon its mass and volume.
Note that the volume of objects can have regular or irregular shapes. If the object has a regular shape, find the length, width, and height/depth/thickness and multiply these three values together. If the object has an irregular volume (one of these three variables is missing), then use the water displacement method to determine how much of the water is displaced by the object. Then subtract the original volume from the new volume of water to get the volume of the object. Once the volume and the mass of the object ( “weighing” it on a scale for its mass) are determined, then divide the mass of the object by its volume to figure out the value of its density.