Metal Lab

                 Throughout the course of the last two weeks I have learned many skills that have helped me enhance my knowledge of science. To start, I learned how to accurately calculate density, mass and volume. I was also reminded that density equals mass divided by volume. Mass divided by volume compares the mass for every one unit of volume. Volume will generally equal some unit cubed because it is length times width times height. But volume can sometimes be in ML because 1 ML is equal to centimeters squared. Mass and density are both physical properties of matter. But mass changes depending on the amount of material present and density remains the same regardless of how much material.

            I also learned the importance of significant figures and estimated digits when doing calculations. There will always be one estimated digit in a number. All place holder are zeros but not all zeros are place holders. All digits greater than zero are significant.

            Knowing the difference between chemical and physical change is a very important part of what I learned the past two weeks.  Chemical change is any change that results in the formation of new chemical substances. Some examples include, change in color, energy, or a change in the state of matter. In example, liquid to gas. Physical change rearranges molecules but doesn't affect their internal structures.  Something that really helped me get a better understanding of this concept was the chemical and physical changes in matter lab we did in class. It helped me better understand how to distinguish a chemical from physical change.

            All of the concepts helped my lad partner and I accomplish the Metal lab efficiently. We were given two different types of metal in two different cups. One was labeled Cup A and the other Cup B. Our goal is to find the Density of each of the Metals. First we calculate the mass of some of each metal and then all of each of the metals. We calculated the mass using the electronic balance. Then we have to calculate the volume of each of the metals. Normally we would do length, times width, times height but in this case we will use the method of water displacement. We fill the gradulated cylinder to the thirty milliliter mark. And add the metal. We observe what marking the water hits now. We repeat this step for each of the metals for both all and some. Once we have our volume calculations we are able to calculate density. We do this by taking the mass of the metal divided by the volume. And then we have completed the calculations for density and are ready to graph. 

Links: http://www.ausetute.com.au/density.html

http://www.chem.sc.edu/faculty/Morgan/resources/sigfigs/index.html