Activity III: Determining Density of a Regular Solid

Problem:

What is the density of 10 different materials? How can I use density to determine what material a block is made of?

Procedure Materials

a.Write down your block labels in the data table. Use the color and type of material to identify each block.

b.Use the electronic or pan balance to measure the mass of each block in grams. Write this data in the data table.

c.Use the metric ruler to measure the height, width, and length of each block. Measure each block carefully; they are not exactly identical. Write this data in the data table.

Using a spreadsheet to calculate and evaluate density

Procedure:

a.Open a workbook in Excel. Click on Sheet 1.

b.Label the A1 cell: Calculating Density. Label row 2 with the following headings from the data table. Your spreadsheet should look similar to the table in fig.1.

c.Now you will enter the data and information from your data table into the spreadsheet. Do not type in the units for each measurement.

d.To enter data into each cell, click on the cell to select the cell. Type in the information; notice that the information is being typed in a space above the spreadsheet. Press the return or enter key to enter the data in the cell.

e.To have the spreadsheet perform calculations you will need to enter formulas. The formula will utilize numerical data in individual cells. Formulas are a combination of numbers, spreadsheet cell coordinates and functions.

f.To have the spreadsheet calculate volume, you will need to have it multiply the cells for height, width and length. Click on cell D3, type =E3*F3*G3 and press return.

g.The = means the number in this cell is the result of a function. In a spreadsheet, these symbols are used:

1.is used to multiply

2./ is used to divide

3.- is used to subtract

4.+ is used to add

a.The fx is the insert functions button; you can use this to perform more complex calculations.

b.Using the method in step 6, enter the formulas for calculating volume for each of the materials. Remember to change the cell coordinates to row

4. An easy step is to simply click on a cell to enter the cell in your formula. c.Now enter the formula to calculate density in column

B. Remember the formula for density is density = mass divided by volume. d.D= m / v.

What is the formula you will type in to complete this calculation? ___________________

Making a chart from a Spread Sheet

d.In spreadsheet programs graphs are called charts. To make a chart, highlight the information that you what included in your chart; then select on Options in the Main Menu bar and click on Make Chart. You will now have many options. It is important that you have an idea on what the information the chart should be producing and what the chart is going to be used for.

e.In this activity you will be comparing the densities of the blocks to each other and water using a bar chart.

f.Highlight the column A and B from row 2 down then click on Options and select Make Chart.

g.Use the options in the charting program to produce a graph that gives you a comparison of densities.