Final answer:
Density is a measure of the amount of material in a given volume, defined as mass per unit volume. It is crucial for determining if an object will float or sink and varies among solids, liquids, and gases. The correct answer is option B: material is packed into a space
Step-by-step explanation:
Density is a measure of how much material is packed into a space. It is the ratio of the mass of an object to its volume. This physical property of matter is represented by the equation density (d) = mass (m) / volume (V), where 'd' stands for density, 'm' represents the mass of the material, and 'V' denotes the volume that the mass occupies. Understanding density is essential in various scientific contexts, such as figuring out if an object will sink or float in a fluid.
Materials come in different forms such as solids, liquids, and gases, and they all have different densities. Gases are usually much less dense than solids or liquids due to the greater amount of space between their particles. Although temperature can impact the density of liquids and gases, each substance has a characteristic density at a given temperature, making it a useful property for identifying substances. In general, when comparing the densities of substances, solids and liquids are often measured in units like grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3), whereas gases are measured in grams per liter (g/L).