Experiment on finding the specific gravity of different materials.
Pria Mae C. Cadiz
ABSTRACT
The students of Physics 11 Laboratory section B5 of Mapua Institute of Technology had conducted an experiment concerning Archimedes’ Principle to determine the density and specific gravity of solids and liquids applying Archimedes’ Principle. To determine the density of solids (Part A) and the specific gravity of two unknown liquid sample (Part B), they had made use of platform balance to measure the mass of the metal sample tied by a string in air and then submerged inside a 250-ml beaker filled with water. They had computed the specific gravity of each sample metal using a formula, weight in the liquid, loss of weight in the liquid and computed the percentage error. For Part C, they had filled a graduated cylinder with 250-ml liquid sample and had immersed a hydrometer. The Part D is determination of SG of solid lighter than water, which is a cork. For the additional experiment, the Professor enables us to use different coins as samples and computed for their SG. They had been successful to support the theory of Archimedes and got small percent errors.
I. INTRODUCTION
Some objects float on water which only shows that water exerts an upward force on objects place on it. Objects which is denser the object will sink, otherwise it will submerged. When a body is submerged in a liquid, it is lifted or buoyed up by the liquid. This upward force is called buoyant force. The buoyant force assists in supporting a body against the downward pull of gravity. The body is said to “lose weight” – that is to undergo an apparent loss of weight. The apparent loss of weight in liquid is equal to the buoyant force. The idea was discovered by Archimedes and called this Archimedes
Principle. This principle states that an object partly or wholly submerged in a fluid is buoyed up by a force equal to the weight of the fluid it displaces.
This experiment will
References: http://www.physics.smu.edu/~scalise/mechmanual/archimedes/lab.html http://www.vias.org/glazebrook_practphys/glazebrook_practical_physics_035.html Principle of Physics 10th Edition (David Halliday, Robert Resnick, Jearl Walker)