Forces in

action
1. The idea of density

2. Measuring Density

3. Density Calculation
The Idea of
Density
Which is heavier, a tonne of lead or a tonne of
feathers?

“They're both the same”

• Everyone knows that lead is heavier than feathers, but that is not the right answer. The answer is
that a tonne of feathers is just as heavy as a tonne of lead.

• The reason is that a tonne of anything weighs the same - it has a mass of one tonne, or 1000
kilograms.

The mass of an object tells us how much matter it is made

of.
• What is the unit of mass?

• Which has more mass, 1 kg of water

or 1 kg of air?

• g or kg
• Both are the same
Taking up
space
• The reason we can easily be tricked by the question about
lead and feathers is that we know that feathers are lighter
than lead.

• One tonne of feathers occupies much more space than one

tonne of lead. One tonne of lead has the same mass as one
tonne of feathers, but it is squashed into a much smaller
volume.

• If you took two identical boxes and filled one with lead
and one with feathers, the box full of lead would be much
heavier than the box of feathers. There would be much
more mass squashed into the volume of the box.
Which is more dense?
 Comparing
•Materials
In science, we don't say that lead is heavier
than feathers. We say that lead has a greater
density than feathers.

What is density?
Density is the measure of how compact the
mass in a substance or object is.
We state the density of a material like this:

• The density of a material tells us the mass of 1 mas

cubic centimetre (1cm 3 ) of the material. density
s
• A heavier material is more dense than a lighter volum
material. It has a greater density. In the e
picture, each cube has a volume of 1 cm 3 , but Density of water = 1.0
the cubes have different masses. g/cm 3
• What is the density of gold?

• Which is denser, water or ice?

• 19.38 g/cm3
• water
Expalining
Density

The particles are

very
close together.

The particles are very much

further apart than a solid or
liquid
The particles are slightly
further apart than a solid.
Expalining
Density
• Air is a gas. Its particles are spread out, far apart from each other.

• There is a lot of empty space in between them. So air occupies a lot of space but
its particles, which have mass, occupy only a tiny fraction of that space.

• Lead is a solid. Its particles are packed closely together, and each particle has
more mass than a particle of the air.

• This is why lead is so dense.

Density of Solids Density of
Liquids
• When water boils, it becomes steam. Its particles spread out and occupy a
greater volume. Has its density increased or increased? Explain your
answer.

When water boils and turns into steam, its density

decreases. This is because the phase change from liquid
to gas causes the water molecules to spread out and
occupy a greater volume.
 Measuring
Density
If you want to know the density of a
material, here is what you do. You take a
sample of the material and measure two things: 7g

• its mass in grams (g) 210 g

• its volume in centimetres cubed (cm 3 )

Then you calculate its density like this: The big iron block measures 5 cm * 2 cm * 3
cm

The picture shows that we can think of the blocks as

being made up of 30 small cubes, each of volume 1 cm 3
and mass 7.0 g.
Measuring
Mass
Mass is measured using a balance. There are different designs of balance; check that the
scale gives mass in grams.

Triple beam Balanc Digital

balance e balance

What is the mass of the tomaato shown in the photograph?

Measuring
Volume
There are several ways to measure the volume of something.

Volume of Regular
Object
You can find the volume of a solid with a regular shape by measuring each side.
 Volume of Irregular Volume of liquid
Object
• You can find the volume of an irregular • You can find the volume of a liquid by
object by submerging the object in water in pouring the liquid into a measuring
a measuring cylinder. cylinder.
 Density
Calculations
Here is the equation which is used to
calculate the density of a material,
written in words and in symbols: a. Volume = length * width * height
= 4 cm * 2 cm * 1.5 cm
= 12 cm 3

b. Steel is denser than iron because it contains

additional elements, such as carbon, which
increase its overall density.

where D = density
M = mass
V = volume
Calculating
mass
We can arrange the equation for density
like this:

density of water = 1.0 g/cm 3

mass = density * volume

Volume of the tank:

volume = length * width * height

= 80 * 20 * 25 = 40000 cm 3
M=D*V
Mass of the water:

mass = density * volume

= 1.0 * 40000 = 40000 g
mass of bottle = 80 g

To find the mass of olive oil:

mass = density * volume

= 0.9 * 500 = 450 g

To find thee mass of full bottle:

Mass of full bottle = mass of olive oil + mass of the bottle

= 450 + 80 = 530 g
Calculating
volume
We can arrange the equation for density
to make volume its subject, like this:

To find the volume of the sand:

volume= mass/density= 20000/250=8 m 3

V = M/D
Since each bag has a volume of 1 m 3 , he will
need 8 bags.
mass of the coil = 7.0.g
density of the coil = 5.6 g/cm 3

volume = mass / density

= 7.0 / 5.6
= 1.25 cm 3
 mass of 1 cm3 of how light or
a material heavy a material
is

DENSI
Applications TY Volume

• Engineering: Determining the

strength and durability of
materials.
Regular Irregular Liquid
• Chemistry: Identifying substances mass
and analyzing their properties.

• Geology: Studying the

composition and structure of
Earth's materials