Title: Volume Lab Purpose: To practice finding the volume of different types of items and to see how much air is in sand.   Hypothesis: (What percentage of the sand do you think is air?)       Materials: small rock marble wood block baby food jar or any small container 2 graduated cylinders ruler sand 1-50 mL beaker 1-250 mL beaker Procedure: Use the ruler to directly measure the length, width, and height measurements to find the volume of the wood block. Be sure to use centimeters (cm) so that the volume measurements will be easy to compare with the fluid volume measurements. The volume of any box shape is l * w * h, or length * width * height. Use the graduated cylinder and the water displacement method for finding the volume of the marble: It doesn't matter how much water you start with, just leave room for it to rise. Record the starting volume of water. Drop the marble into the graduated cylinder. To reduce the amount of splash and to avoid breaking the cylinder, tilt the cylinder on an angle and slide the marble down the side into the water. Record this final volume in the data section. Subtract the beginning volume from the final volume. The difference is the volume of the marble! Repeat the same steps above to find the volume of the small rock. Record your data as you go. Try the water displacement method to find the volume of the marble again, this time using a beaker instead of the graduated cylinder. Repeat the same steps above. Use direct measurement to find the volume of the baby food jar: Fill the jar with water. Pour the volume of water into a graduated cylinder, and record it's volume. If the jar can hold more water than the graduated cylinder, place as much water as you can measure into the cylinder, record the volume, pour out the water into the sink, and measure the rest of the water in the jar. Add these volumes together for a final volume measurement. To find the volume of air in sand: Measure 40 mL of sand into the 50 mL beaker. Measure 40 mL of water into a graduated cylinder. Carefully pour the sand into the water in the graduated cylinder. Try not to get any sand stuck on the sides. Allow the sand to completely submerge in the water. Make sure there are no air bubbles left! The volume of the sand and water should be 80 mL, since you added 40 mL of one into 40 mL of the other. Record the final volume of the sand/water mixture. If there is a difference between the final volume and 80 mL, this difference is the volume of air in the sand! Data: 1. Wood block: length__________ cm width__________ cm height__________ cm volume (l*w*h) = __________ cm3 2. Marble (using graduate): final volume of water__________ mL beginning volume of water__________ mL subtract beginning from final volume =__________ mL 3. Marble (using graduate): final volume of water__________ mL beginning volume of water__________ mL subtract beginning from final volume =__________ mL 4. Marble (using beaker): final volume of water__________ mL beginning volume of water__________ mL subtract beginning from final volume =__________ mL 5. Baby food jar =__________ mL 6. Volume of air in the sand: beginning: sand + water = 80 mL final volume = _____________ mL subtract final from beginning difference = _____________ mL of air in the sand   Analysis: 1. Which had a greater volume - the marble or the rock?       2. Which had more volume - the wood block or the baby food jar?       3. How close were the volume measurements for the marble using the graduated cylinder and the beaker in the water displacement method? Which method do you feel is most accurate?       4. What percentage of the sand is air? Divide air space (from #5) by amount of sand (40 mL) and multiply by 100%.       5. What is the relationship between mL and cubic centimeters?     6. Which volume measurement method would you use to find the volume of: a glass of milk? a book? a pencil?   Conclusion: (Was your hypothesis right? What did you like about this lab? What are two things that you learned from this lab? Which method was the easiest to use? Which was the hardest?)               Teacher page for the Volume Lab
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