Measurement of Length, Mass Volume and Density

Haileab Ghebrekiden, Lucille Emeruem,
Shakira Thomas, Chris Thomas and Brad Steward
9/18/2014
Physics I Lab
Dr. Abdalla
Measurement of Length, Mass Volume and Density

Introduction: All science is concerned with measurement. "MEASUREMENT" is the determination of the size or magnitude of something "Or" The comparison of unknown quantity with some standard quantity of the same rates is known as measurement. Due to this fact we have standards of measurement. Since the precision of all measuring instruments is limited, the number of digits that can be assumed as known for any measurement is also limited. When making a measurement, read the instrument to its smallest scale division. Accuracy of a result or experimental procedure can refer to the percentage difference between the experimental result and the accepted value. The stated uncertainty in an experimental result should always be greater than this percentage accuracy. In this experiment we will measure length, Mass, Volume and Density using different tools.
Equipment’s:
1) Vernier caliper
2) Triple beam balance
3) Steel cube
4) Cylinder including (Aluminum, brass, copper)
Theory:
The goal of the first part of this experiment is to determine the densities of a number of cylinders, and gain an understanding of how different measurement techniques can affect the reliability of experimental results.
Procedures:
We measured the length, mass, and density of the brass, copper and aluminum wires with a venire caliper in millimeter, the mass with a triple beam balance in grams and the diameter for brass, copper and aluminum was given.

Length(cm)
Mass(g)
Diameter(mm)
Cylinder
4.545
15.8
1.365
Cube
3.76
272.24
---
Brass
29.5
1.3
.14
Copper
29.4
2.07
.27
Aluminum
29.3
.7
.20

Once we completed measuring the diameter and length of the cylinder, we moved on to finding the volume and density of the objected which we ran the experiment by. To find the volume of the cube we used the formula V=a3, were a represented the length of the side of the cube. To find the volume of the cylinder we used the formula V=πr2h.
To find the density of this objects we used the formula Density= Mass/Volume.

From the label on that was given we know that the materials used for the cylinder were Aluminum, Brass and copper. From the data found we could assume the metal cube was made from Lithium because it has a very low density of 0.534 g/cm3. The unknown cylinder is made out of Boron because it has a density of 2.34 and our findings indicate2.38.
Discussion:
In this experiment me result that we found were significantly accurate we found this out by calculating percent error =. We found out that the error was less than 5% as expected.in this experiment there were several stations which should be accounted for while calculating error such as, the accuracy of the triple beam balance. Nothing in this experiment was uncounted for everything that affected the results was noted. The experiment that we conducted fit the theory as predicted there were certain error but not large enough to alter the results in major way.
Conclusion:
As expected in the beginning of the experiment there were several uncertainties or error. But this uncertainties and error were not large enough to alter the results in a major way were they effected the experiment in to giving false data. From this lab we were able to determine the densities of a number of cylinders, and gain an understanding of how different measurement techniques can affect the reliability of experimental results.