Question

There is water on the pan of the scale as you measure the mass of an object. If you were to ignore the water, what would be the effect on your density calculation?

Answer 1

Remember that density refers to the "mass per unit volume" of an object.

So, if an object had a mass of 100 grams and a volume of 100 milliliters, the density would be 100 grams / 100 ml.

In the question, water on the surface of the scale would add weight, so the mass of the object that you're weighing would appear to be heavier than it really is. If that happens, you'll incorrectly assume that the density is GREATER than it really is

As an example, suppose that there was 5 ml of water on the surface of the scale. Water has a density of 1 gram per milliliter (1 g/ml) so the water would add 5 grams to the object's weight. If we use the example above, the mass of the object would seem to be 105 grams, rather than 100 grams. So, you would calculate:

density = mass / volume
density = 105 grams / 100 ml
density = 1.05 g/ml

The effect on density would be that it would erroneously appear to be greater

Hope this helps!

Good luck