Density of Planets and Moons Lab
Objectives: In this lab you will learn:
Part 1 – What density is, and how to experimentally determine it
Part 2 – To calculate various physical quantities for the planet Mercury
Part 3 – Group major solar system bodies by density
Part 1. DENSITY
Definition – Density =mass / volume.
Symbolically, we write this as
,
where 1) ρ (the Greek letter “rho”) is the density,
2) m is mass, and
3) V is volume, the amount of three-dimensional space the object occupies.
The units for density are grams per cubic centimeter, g/cm3.
Since this experiment will only consider spherical objects (planets and major moons), we need to know how to calculate the volume of a sphere, which is given by the equation
where 1) V is the volume of the sphere, and
2) r is the radius of the sphere.
From the equation, we see that our only value containing units is the radius, which is distance. Since we are cubing it, our answer for volume should always have units of distance cubed. Since volume is three dimensional, this always the case for the volume in any object, not just spheres.
We will begin by finding the density of three small, spherical objects. Follow the procedure to measure the values.
Procedure – Use your data from Lab 5 to fill in this table. Then use your data to answer the questions.
Table 1.
Ball |
Mass (g) |
Diameter (mm) |
Radius (mm) |
Radius (cm) |
Golf Ball |
43.9 g |
41.74 mm |
20.87 mm |
2.087 cm |
Steel Ball |
27.9 g |
19.06 mm |
9.53 mm |
.953 cm |
Ping Pong Ball |
2.5 g |
39.45 mm |
19.725 mm |
1.9725 cm |
4. If two spheres have the same mass and different radii, which will be more dense, and why?
5. If two spheres have the same radius and different masses, which one will be more dense, and why?
6. (5 points) Would it always be true that a sphere with a smaller diameter would be denser, and why or why not?
7. (5 points) Would it always be true that a sphere with a greater mass would be denser, and why or why not?
8. (5 points) If all of the balls had exactly the same mass, which would be the densest, and why?
Part 2. MERCURY
Consider Mercury’s mass. Since we are studying comparative planetology, we often give the mass of planets as multiples of Earth’s mass. But if we want to calculate a planet’s (observed) density, then we need its mass in grams.
10a ∙ 10b = 10a+b.) Show your work.
Now we will consider Mercury’s radius. We wish to calculate density, so we need to convert Mercury’s radius into centimeters. As an intermediate step, we will first find Mercury’s radius in meters.
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