Materials List:
Determining Densities
https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/duk_density_mary_act
- An assortment of small objects with regular shapes; their densities will be determined by first measuring dimensions and then calculating volumes. For this assortment, gather objects with regular shapes (rectangular prisms, spheres, cylinders) such as metal bars, brass weights, wooden blocks, marbles, Fire Balls™ candy, wine corks, candles, art gum erasers, large crayons with pointed ends cut off, Styrofoam™ spheres (from craft supply shops) and modeling clay molded into cubes or spheres. Be sure to include some objects that float.
- A second assortment of objects that have irregular shapes; their volumes will be determined by the displacement of water. For this assortment, gather items such as rocks; small figurines (plastic soldiers or animals, metal or ceramic figures, but make sure they have no hollow portions and are made of only one material); large nails, nuts or bolts; short lengths of metal chain; pieces of broken brick, pottery, plastic or Styrofoam™ (if spheres are not used in the other assortment); rubber test tube or flask stoppers; and chunks of vegetables such as carrots or potatoes.
- rulers, at least one per team
- calculators, one per team
- balances accurate to at least 0.1 g (such as standard triple beam balances), one per team
- 25, 50 and 100 ml graduated cylinders, at least one per team (ideally one small one plus one of larger one per team)
- 250 and/or 500 ml beakers, one or both per team
- pans or trays to catch water that overflows from the beakers, one per team
- (optional) funnels to fit into the tops of the graduated cylinders (helpul to limit the amount of spilled water), one per team
- sponges and/or dishrags (for wiping up drips and spills), at least one per team
- thread
https://www.teachengineering.org/activities/view/duk_density_mary_act