Question

The density of gold is 19.3 g /cm cubed The density of iron pyrite is 5.0 g /cm cubed. Is a nugget of iron pyrite and a nugget of gold each have a mass of 50 g what can you conclude about the volume of each nugget

Answer 1

If you clear volume in the density equation:

$\rho = \frac{m}{V}\ \to\ V = \frac{m}{\rho}$

The greater the density the lower the volume. This means, the volume of gold nugget will be smaller than the volume of iron pyrite nugget.

$V_{gold} = \frac{m}{\rho} = \frac{50\ g}{19.3\ g/cm^3} = \bf 2.59\ cm^3$

$V_{iron} = \frac{m}{\rho} = \frac{50\ g}{5.0\ g/cm^3} = \bf 10\ cm^3$