Name _________________

Period ___

Volume Lab

by E. S. Belasic click here for a pdf version

Objectives:

• to determine the volume of a regular object using the formula: length x width x height
• to define the term "meniscus"
• to read a graduated cylinder using the meniscus
• to determine the volume of an irregular object using water displacement

Materials:

• Graduated cylinder
• A variety of materials such as blocks of wood, marbles, paper clips, box of tissues, etc, set up around the room
at stations
• ruler

Procedure:

1. There are numbered stations around the room.

2. You will be assigned a station to start at
3. At the station you will find the volume of the object(s) at that station using one of the methods we have
discussed in class.
4. Record your results in Table 1.
5. Do NOT proceed to the next station until it is time to rotate.

Formula for regular volume: L x W x H = cm3

Formula for Irregular Volume: Ending Volume - Starting Volume = Volume of object in mL
 Data::

Table 1: Volume of regular and irregular objects

Volume: cm3 or Volume: cm3 or

Object Object Object Volume: cm3 or mL
mL mL
1 5 9

2 6 10

3 7 11

4 8 12

Analysis/Results:

1. What is a meniscus?
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2. Where do you measure from using the meniscus? ________________________
3. What item had the largest volume?
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4. What item had the smallest volume?
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5. Which method found the volume the fastest?

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Conclusion: 2-3 sentences demonstrating what you learned in this lab.

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Teacher Tips:

At the irregular volume lab stations, place the graduated cylinder, 2 objects to find the volume for, a beaker of colored
water using food coloring (makes reading the mL easier), a plastic spoon, and a rubber stopper on a tray.

Place the rubber stopper inside the graduated cylinder so it is at the bottom of the cylinder. The rubber stopper
prevents the graduated cylinder from cracking when objects are placed in (rocks, marbles, metal bars, nails, etc).

Use the plastic spoon to stop the heavy objects from falling out of the graduated cylinder when they pour the water out
and back into the beaker. The heavy objects will crack the beaker if it is simply "dumped" into the beaker.

Keeping all the materials on the tray will keep water from getting all over the place, esp if something does end up
cracking by accident!