Experiment 10: Relative Density

Angelie Alexie C. Nethercott

Department of Mathematics and Physics
College of Science, University of Santo Tomas
Espaa, Manila Philippines

Abstract

1. Introduction
Archimedes's tale took place some 2,200
years ago when King Hieron II of Syracuse
suspected that the jeweller had substituted
some of the gold for cheaper metal like
silver so he asked Archimedes to prove his
suspicion. Archimedes had spent a long time
trying to figure out the answer, which came
to him when he noticed how water would
splash out of his bath tub the moment he
stepped into it, and the more he stepped into
the tub, even more water got displaced.

So to find the crowns volume,
Archimedes had to do was essentially
immerse the crown and exact measurement
of pure gold in a tub filled with water to the
brim, measure the spillage, and compare the
volume of spillages if the jeweller had
indeed made a crown of pure gold the
volume should be the same.

Archimedes' soak in the tub gave rise to
Archimedes Principle, which states that
when a body is immersed in water, it
experiences a kind of force we call
buoyancy. This force is equal to the weight
of the water displaced by the body.

Buoyancy explains why something
floats, and others don't. For instance, a ball
of steel will sink because it's unable to
displace water that equals its weight. But
steel of the same weight but shaped as a
bowl will float because the weight gets




distributed over a larger area and the steel
displaces water equal to its weight.

Relative density, or specific gravity, is
the ratio of the density (mass of a unit
volume) of a substance to the density of a
given reference material. Specific gravity
usually means relative density with respect
to water. The term "relative density" is often
preferred in modern scientific usage. [1]
Nowadays, density becomes very
important for example, ships require ballast
to stay upright in the water, airplanes use
counterweights to ensure they fly correctly.
In either case, during the initial design,
engineers must account for how much
weight they need, and how much space must
be allotted for it. To determine how much
space they need, they must know the density
of the materials they plan on using.
The purpose of this experiment was to
determine the composition of a substance
based on its density and by Archimedes
principle.

2. Theory
Density
The density of a material is defined
as the ratio of its mass m to its volume V.
Mathematically,

(eq. 2.1)
The density of the material is an
intrinsic property. Meaning, it does not
depend on the amount of material. On the
contrary, both of its mass and volume are
extrinsic properties; that is, it is dependent
on the amount of the material.
There are three (3) methods that can
be used in obtaining the density of the
material. First, it is the direct method. The
direct method is used for regularly-shaped
objects. For instance, calculating the volume
of a cubic object, say sugar cube, is fairly
straightforward as its volume is equivalent
to the cube of its sides s(V
square
= s
3
). Using a
balance, one can obtain its mass.
The second method is the indirect
method. The indirect method is used when
the material is irregular in shape. For
instance, measuring the volume of a piece of
rock using geometric formulas is intensely
hard as you will measure every side of it. In
this method, the material is suspended in a
liquid and recording how much the liquid
displaced. The portion of the liquid that is
displaced is approximately equal to its
volume.
The third method is based from the
Archimedes Principle. In this method, a
given material will be suspended in a liquid
that has approximately the same density.

Relative Density
The relative density (RD) is defined
as the ratio of the density of material with
respect to some reference standard. In most
general sense, the standard is water having a
= 1.00g/cc. Mathematically,

(eq. 2.2)
Because both have the same units, the
relative density RD of a material is unit less.
The specific gravity (SG) of a
material is equivalent to the relative density
with a reference standard of water. Since
the density of water is 1.00g/cc, the density
of the material is equivalent to RD in units
of g/cc. Mathematically,

(eq. 2.3)
When an object is in a fluid, there is
buoyant force acting on the object due to the
pressure of the fluid. The Archimedes
Principle states that the buoyant force on a
body immersed in a fluid is equal to the
weight of the fluid displaced by the object.
Mathematically,

(eq. 2.4)
Where w is the weight of an object,

= weight of the water,

= weight
of the object in air,

= weight of the
object submerged in water.
3. Methodology

The experiment used electronic gram
balance, spring balance, 100 ml.
graduated cylinder and a beaker.

For Activity 1, a piece of brass was
weighed using the electronic gram
balance. Some water was placed in a
graduated cylinder and noted the initial

level of the water. The brass was placed
in the cylinder and because of
impenetrability; the brass displaced a
volume of water equal to their volume
and the new level was noted. The
volume of brass was obtained from the
difference of the two levels of water.
The density was also determined using
equation 2.1


Figure 1.0: Experimental set-up of
displacement method (Photo credit:
middleschoolchemistry.com)

For Activity 2, the weight of the
bone in the air was obtained by using the
spring balance. In a beaker with water,
the bone was immersed and obtained its
weight in water. Use equation 2.4 to
compute for relative density (R.D.) and
for density of the bone, multiply the
relative density to the density of water
(
bone
= R.D.*
water).

4. Results and Discussion

Table 1: Displacement Method for
Alloy
Weight of the brass (g) 52.92
Initial level of water (cc) 60
Final level of water (cc) 67
Volume of brass (cc) 7
Density of brass (g/cc) 7.56
Experimental % by weight
brass
11.76%

(Table 1 shows the result of the volume
and density of the brass using
displacement method)
Given a theoretical density of a brass
which is 8.5 g/cm
3
, an 11.76% composition
was obtained.
Table 2: Density of a Bone
Weight of the bone in air
(g)
80
Weight of the bone in
water (g)
40
Relative density of bone 2 g/mL
Density of bone (g/cc) 2
Finding Osteopetrosis

(Table 2 shows the results obtained in
measuring the density of the bone and the
relative density using equation 2.4)

The World Health Organization
(WHO) defines osteoporosis on this scale :

Osteoporosis
2.5
Osteopetrosis

1 Normal

Osteopenia



After obtaining 2 g/cc as the density
of the bone, it is found out that the bone has
an Osteopetrosis because it is higher than
the normal bone density which is 1.

5. Conclusion
After performing the experiment, it was
evident that the force present which the fluid
exerts on an object placed in it is equal to
the weight of the fluid object displaces.
Archimedes principle also makes possible
the determination of the density of an object,
that its volume cannot be measured directly.
If the object is weighed first in air and then
in water, the difference in weights will equal
the weight of the volume of the water
displaced, which is the same as the volume
of the object.

6. Application


1. How can you distinguish Fools
Gold from pure gold?
If they are both to be suspended in
water, fools gold tend to float while
pure gold will sink to the bottom
because the density of pure gold is
around 19.3g/cc while that of fools
gold is only about 5.02g/cc.
2. The solid samples used in the
experiment are denser than water.
How will you determine the
density of a solid that is less dense
than water? Explain the formula
that you will use.

First, put the solid in the
water. Note how much water is
displaced by the floating solid.
Afterwards, submerge the solid fully
under the water. Note again the
water displaced. Calculate the
relative density (RD) by dividing the
density of the solid (floating) by
when it is submerged. Since the
density of water is 1.00g/cc, then the
RD is equivalent to the density of the
solid itself.

3. The suitability of a person to
donate blood may be tested by
placing a drop of his blood in a
saline solution of density 1.03g/cc.
Is he a suitable donor if the drop
of blood sinks? Explain your
answer.

The normal blood density is
1.06g/cc. If it sinks in the saline
solution, the density will be
somehow closer to 1.06g/cc. He is a
suitable donor then.

4. What is the meaning of the
expression tip of the iceberg? Is
there a physical basis for this?

The expression tip of the
iceberg is used to refer to a situation
in which you or someone else is
seeing only a portion of it. The
physical basis for this is that when
you see icebergs, you are only seeing
a portion of its entire body because
the majority are submerged
underwater.


5. Normal relative density of urine is
from 1.015-1.030. What might be
said if during urinalysis, a specific
gravity higher than normal is
obtained.

If someone has urine with a
specific gravity higher than the
normal range, it means that he/she
has a more concentrated urine.
During urinalysis, it may be said that
the person is severely dehydrated.

7. References

[1]http://www.princeton.edu/~achaney/tmve
/wiki100k/docs/Relative_density.html

[2] L. Marder. 1972. Vector Fields. George
Allen & Unwin Ltd, London.

[3] H. Lass. Vector and Tensor Analysis.
Phoenix Press, Quezon City, Philippines.

[4] MIT OpenCourseware. Cartesian
Coordinates and Vectors. Obtained July 8,
2013 from the MIT OpenCourseware site.