Lab 1: Relative Density

Date: 10/30/20
Aim: To determine relative density of an irregular object
Theory:
Their relative density affect substance is the ratio of its density to the density of
some standard substance, for example, water. The standard substance for solids
and liquid is water. Therefore, for solids or liquids:
Relative density = density of substance (kgm-3) /density of water (kgm-3)
Relative density therefore has no units, it is only a number and indicates only how
many times denser the substance is than water. An example is the relative density
of water is 1gcm-3 or 1000 kgm-3.
Apparatus: Stone, retort clamp, stand, string, digital scale, beaker, spring balance
Diagram:

DIAGRAM SHOWING METHOD USED TO COMPLETE EXPERIMENT

Method:
1. The stone was weighed
2. The stone was then tied to a string
3. The spring balance was used to measure the weight of the stone in the air
4. The empty measuring cylinder was weighed
5.The measuring cylinder was half-filled with water and then the beaker with the
water was weighed
6. The stone was gently lowered in the beaker with contained water.
7. The observation was recorded
Results:
TABLE SHOWING RESULTS OF OBSERVATION
Mass of water(kg) 0.255

Volume of water(m3) 0.00025

Mass of irregular object(kg) 0.119

Volume of irregular object (m3) 0.000065

Calculations:
A) Calculate the density of water
Density = mass/volume
= 0.255kg/0.00025m3
= 1020 kg m-3
B) Calculate the density of the irregular shape
Density = mass/volume
=0.119kg/0.000065m3
=1830.77 kg m-3
C) Determine the relative density
 Relative Density = 1830.77 kg m-3/ 1020 kg m-3
=1.79 kg m3
Sources of error:
1. Volume of water misread due to parallax error
2. Wind or draft from fan or window can cause random error
Precaution:
1. Turn off all fans and close all windows that can affect the experiment
2. Ensure beam balance is set to zero for each new measurement to ensure no
misreading occur.
Conclusion:
After acquiring the density of both the irregular object (Stone) and the water the
relative density was calculated. It was found that the stone is 810.76 kg m-3 times
denser than water.