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This lab measured the density of pre-1982 pennies made of copper and post-1982 pennies made of zinc by measuring the mass and volume of each type of penny. The students found that the pre-1982 pennies had a higher density, as predicted, because copper has a greater density than zinc. They measured volume using a graduated cylinder and water displacement. Their data showed that the pre-1982 pennies had higher mass and lower volume compared to the post-1982 pennies. This supported the hypothesis that pennies made solely of copper would have a greater density than those made of zinc and copper.

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91 views3 pages

Lab Write Up

This lab measured the density of pre-1982 pennies made of copper and post-1982 pennies made of zinc by measuring the mass and volume of each type of penny. The students found that the pre-1982 pennies had a higher density, as predicted, because copper has a greater density than zinc. They measured volume using a graduated cylinder and water displacement. Their data showed that the pre-1982 pennies had higher mass and lower volume compared to the post-1982 pennies. This supported the hypothesis that pennies made solely of copper would have a greater density than those made of zinc and copper.

Uploaded by

api-310714826
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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LabWriteUp

1.TITLE:
PennyLabWriteup
Measuringthedensityofcopperandcopper/zinccoveredpennies

2.ABSTRACT:
Thislabintroducedourstudyofthedensityofcopperandzincinpennies.Copperhasadensityof8.96g/mlandZinchasa
densityof7.13g/ml.Weperformedexperimentsusingagraduatedcylindertomeasurethevolumeofthepre1982penniesand
thepost1982penniestocheckwhichhadgreatervolume/masstothencheckwhichdensitywasgreater.Wethenwrotedown
ourconclusionsintoaspreadsheetandcreatesagraphtorepresentourdata.Ourdataconcludedthatthepre1982pennieshada
greaterdensitythanpost1982pennies,aspredictedbecausethedensityofcopperisheavier.

3.INTRODUCTION(1paragraph):
Introducethetopic.
PriorknowledgewehadonthesubjectbeforeconductingtheexperimentconsistedofhowCopperhasahigherdensitythen
Zinc.Penniesmadebefore1982weremadeoutofcopper.Penniesmadeafter1982weremadeoutofzincwithacoppercoating.
Duringtheexperiment,weobservedthefeelandtextureofthepennies.Weheardthecoinsdroppingintothegraduatedcylinder.
Wedidnttasteanythinginparticularduringthelab.Wecouldsmellthecopperandzinc,andlastly,wecouldseethescaleboats
andallofourmeasuringtools.
PennyDensityLabWriteup

4.QUESTION&HYPOTHESIS:
Ifcoppersaresolelymadeofcopperthanthedensitywillbegreaterthanthosemadeoutofzincandcopperbecausethedensity
ofcopperishigherthanthedensityofZinc.
Isthedensityofpenniesmadepre1982greaterthanthepenniesmadepost1982?
5.MATERIALS(list):
Whatscientificequipmentdidyouuse?
graduatedcylinder
weightboats
scale
pennies
water
6.PROCEDURE(list):
Whatstepsdidyoutake?
1. procedureforpennies
gatherourmaterials
wegrabbedthepre1982penniesandweighedthem
afterweweighedthemwefilledthegraduatedcylinderwith10g/mlandbeganmeasuringthepennies
wewrotedownourdata
thenrepeatedtheprocessforthepost1982
2. howtousethegraduatedcylindertomeasurevolume(waterdisplacement)

Placethegraduatedcylinderonaflatsurface
viewtheheightoftheliquidinthecylinderwithyoureyesdirectlyoppositethetopoftheliquidsurface.
Theliquid(ifwaterorasolutioncontainingwater)willtendtocurvedownward
Alwaysreadthebottomofthemeniscus.

3. howtousevolumeandmasstocalculatedensity

densityismass/volume.Wecalculatedourmassandvolumeforeachpennyandthenpluggeditintothe
formulay=mx+btocreatethedesiredtoslopetothenmakeourgraph.
(y=mx+b)

7.RESULTS:
DateTable:

Pre1982PenniesPost1982Penniesnewpennies(n/a)
#pennies

Volume

Mass

Volume

Mass

Volume

Mass

.1

3.1

.1

2.5

n/a

n/a

6.1

5.0

n/a

n/a

14.8

2.5

12.5

n/a

n/a

23.9

19.5

n/a

n/a

10

3.9

30.1

3.9

24.9

n/a

n/a

Graph:

Thegraphshowshowwhilebothpennieselevatehigherinvolumeandmass,thepre1982penniesarestillheavier.Inthepre
1982penniesthedensityfluctuateshigher,startingat0.611andmovinggraduallyhigheratarateof7.495x.Inthepost1982
penniesthemassandvolumealsoincreasebutnotasmuchasthepre1982pennies.Itsstartingpointis0.202andmoveshigher
graduallyatarateof6.075x.

8.CONCLUSION:
Accordingtothisexperiment,ourhypothesiswasacceptedbecauseourdatasupportedourinitialthoughtofhowthe
volumeandmassofcopperpennieswouldexceedthatofzincandcoppercoveredpenniesbecausecopperhasahigher
density.Somethingwecouldhavefixedwouldbemeasuringthevolumemorecarefullyandbeingmoreconcise.Albeit,our
resultsweresupportiveofourhypothesisbuttherangeofmeasurementforourpre1982pennieswasabitoff.Wecollected
enoughdataasaforementioned,itwasnotsuccinctandparticular.Wedidntmeasurecarefullyenough.
Thispatternofdensitybetweencopperandzincpenniesexistbecausetheysimplyhaveadifferentmeasurementofmass
andvolume.Ourfindingsintriguedusbecausewelearnedaboutthedensityofelementsandhowtheyaredifferent.Wereckon

mostofthepopulationdidntnoticetheslightchangeinweightofpenniesafter1982.Whydootherelementscarvedintoa
singleentityandshapesometimesdifferinweight?Whyisothermaterial/elementsetc,weighmorethanothers?

9.CITATIONS:
PennyLabWorksheet(Biotechnology2016)

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