Density Block Lab

During the Density Block Lab, we had to find the mass of one block by using only a ruler and a calculator. The density was given to us but we had to find out the volume of the block by measuring the length, width, and height of the block in order to calculate an accurate mass. Density is the degree of compactness of an object which can be found by using the volume; which is the amount of space an object occupies, and the mass; which is how big an object is.

My partner and I first used the ruler to measure the length, width, and height of the block in order to calculate the volume. We then used the density that was given to us and the volume that we just calculated and plugged the numbers into a calculator following the equation: mass=density x volume which gave us the mass of the block.

Here is a picture of my work for both blocks that we measured:

Here is a picture of my final answer and my percent errors for both blocks that we measured:

                                                         



As you can see in the pictures above, my partner and I did not get the right answer the first time but when we tried again, we got the right answer with just a 1.1% difference between our estimate and the exact mass of the block. During our first try, my partner and I did not have accurate length, width, and height measurements for our block which led to our volume being wrong, and eventually to our mass being wrong. We learned that we had to be precise with our measurements and take the extra seconds to make sure that we have the correct answer and to double check our work.