Question

A shiny chunk of metal is found to have a mass of 37.28g. The metal is dropped into a graduated cylinder which contains 20.0 mL of water. The volume of the cylinder rises to 34.0 mL. Determine the density of the metal. What might the metal be made of?

Answer 1

Answer: The density of the material is 2.66 g/mL and it is likely this  is made of Aluminum

Explanation:

The first step to know the material of the chunk of metal is to calculate its density. The general formula for density is P (density) = $\frac{m (mass)}{ v (volume)}$. Moreover, in this case, it is known the mass is 37.28 g, but the volume is not directly provided. However, we know the water in the graduated cylinder had a volume of 20.0 mL and this increased to 34.0 mL when the chunk of metal is added, this means the volume of the metal is 14 mL (34.0 mL - 20.0 mL = 14 mL). Now let's calculate the density:

$P =$ $\frac{37.28g}{14.0mL}$

$P = 2.66 g/mL$

This means the density of this metal is 2.66 g/mL, which can be rounded as 2. 7 g/mL, and according to the chart, this is the density of aluminum. Therefore, this material of this chunk is aluminum.