On October 18th we began to work in the lab, learning how to mass solids and liquids. Kids learned to use the gram scale balance to measure mass and to measure the volume of a liquid using a graduated cylinder. We reviewed the calculations needed to measure the volume of a block or a cylinder and learned how to calculate the volume of an irregularly shaped object by using the indirect method of water displacement. Then the kids learned how to calculate the density of various objects and liquids, including water, by dividing mass by volume. This makes sense, since density is the amount of matter per unit volume.
Everyone had a great time learning to use the equipment to calculate densities. These lab activities have also helped the kids learn to identify physical characteristics of matter, such as color, volume, mass, density, transparency and smell.
The kids especially enjoyed using the Density Cube set, where they could see for themselves how cubes made of different substances, such as brass, pinewood and acrylic, occupy the same amount of space, i.e. have the same volume, but have vastly different densities because of their respective masses being different.
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