Question

how do you identify a pure metal if you have a balance of a graduated cylinder and a table of densities for metals?

Answer 1

We determine the mass of the metal in grams by weighing it using the balance. Next we obtain the volume of the metal by measuring its displacement with a graduated cylinder and water in the following way: 1.measure amount of water in the graduated cylinder. 2. Place metal into the graduated cylinder 3. Measure the amount of water in the graduated cylinder 4. Subtract step 1 from step 3. The difference is the metal's volume. Once we have found out the mass and the volume then we calculate the density using the formula: Density = Mass/Volume. We then check our answer from the known densities of metals in the table of densities that has been provided and determine the identity and purity of the metal by how close our answer is to the most probable value in the table.