Question

A student determines the density of an unknown liquid using a graduated cylinder that has a mass of 56.2g. She added enough liquid to bring the volume to 12.0mL and finds the mass of the liquid and cylinder to be 67.3g. Calculate the density of the unknown liquid.

Answer 1

To calculate the density of the unknown liquid, we can use the formula:

Density = Mass / Volume

First, let's find the mass of the liquid. We subtract the mass of the empty graduated cylinder (56.2g) from the mass of the liquid and cylinder together (67.3g):

Mass of liquid = Mass of liquid and cylinder - Mass of cylinder

Mass of liquid = 67.3g - 56.2g

Mass of liquid = 11.1g

Now, let's substitute the values we have into the formula for density:

Density = Mass / Volume

Density = 11.1g / 12.0mL

To simplify the units, we can convert milliliters to grams since 1mL of water is equal to 1g. Since we don't know if the unknown liquid has the same density as water, we can't directly convert milliliters to grams.

Therefore, the density of the unknown liquid is:

Density = 11.1g / 12.0mL

And this is our final answer.