Question
Question: A 25.2-mL sample of kerosene was determined to have a mass of 20.41 g. What is the density of kerose...
A 25.2-mL sample of kerosene was determined to have a mass of 20.41 g. What is the density of kerosene?
Solution
Density is the property of any substance that is characteristic to it. It is defined as the mass per unit volume. For liquids, the density is given by dividing the mass of the liquid taken by the volume of the liquid taken. It has the units of mass/volume
Complete answer:
The density of any material as described earlier is characteristic to every substance. Density is the measure of how much of the substance occupies a volume of 1 unit cube, at a fixed temperature and pressure. Specifically, it is the mass of the substance per unit volume.
Density is different for different materials, but is more commonly discussed among liquid substances. The formula for density can be given as:
Density=VolumeMass
The unit of density is the same as that of mass divided by the units of volume. The common units to determine density is g/cm3 if it’s a solid and g/mL for liquids. It can also be given in terms of g/L.
The information given to us is MassKerosene=20.41g,VolumeKerosene=25.2mL
Substituting the values in the formula to find out the density we get, Density=25.2(mL)20.41(g)=0.810g/mL
Hence our required answer is 0.810g/mL.
Note:
The relative density of an object will determine if a body will sink or float. If the density of the body is lower than that of water, it floats on the surface. And if the density is more than that of water, it will sink. There are two types of density, one is the relative density and one is the absolute density. Relative density is known as the specific gravity, which is the ratio of the density of a body with that of a reference material. Absolute density is the mass of the substance per unit volume expressed in g/cm3.