Question

Imagine you are given a metal cylinder and asked to determine whether it is made of gold, lead, copper, or iron. The densities of these materials are as follows.

Material	Density (g/cm3)
Gold	19.3
Lead	11.3
Copper	8.93
Iron	7.86

You measure the mass of the cylinder to be m = 3038.0  0.5 grams, and you measure the length of the cylinder to be L = 18.805  0.003 cm. Just like in the lab you performed, you now measure the diameter in eight different places and obtain the following results.

Diameter (cm)

4.210

4.320

4.235

4.180

4.265

4.195

4.360

4.320

Determine the density of the cylinder.

_avg = _________   ____________

Answer 1

Estimated diameter (in cm) is given by

Estimated radius (in cm) is given by

Estimated length (in cm) of the cylinder is given by

Estimated volume (in cubic cm) is given by

Estimated mass (in grams) of the cylinder is given by

Estimated density (in gram/cubic cm) of the cylinder is given by

Hence, density of the cylinder is 11.3 g/cm^3 and thus it is made of lead.