Density Detectives

Ya'mira brought the coins for the lab!!! 36 pennies, 36 nickels, 36 dimes and 36 quarters!

                                                  

We have had three density labs. They were all a success. The way they were organized into groups was the most fun. I had them organize as fast as they could in a competition with my other chemistry classes.

For the kit kat lab, the three person lab team had to have

• one wearing green, 
• one person without laces on their footwear and 
• one person with hair longer than 10 centimeters. 

This was on a Monday so if they had on pink they could be a wild card. Fourth period won with a time of 69 seconds.

• For the rectangular wood prism lab, the three person lab team had to have 
• one person with detached earlobes, 
• one person with the second toe shorter than the big toe, and 
• one person with laces on their shoes. 

Sixth Period won with a time of 57 seconds. This was on a Thursday so anyone with a tie could be a wild card.

For the kit kat lab they measured the length, width and height of a full piece of kit kat and massed it in grams, then the same procedure with a three-quarter piece and a three-eighths piece. They then graphed their results and found the slope. Of course, it was density and surprised a lot of them. Those who did the lab accurately found the density less than one and correctly stated in their conclusion that it would float since it was less than the density of water (1.0 g/cc). In the roll call the next day, some realized density was an intensive property and did not depend on how big or little the kit kat bar was.

Of course we had a test of this hypothesis.

They followed the same procedure in the rectangular prism lab. Their graphs were much better and most now realized that the density of all the pieces were the same and calculated that the density was less than one and would float.

On the Friday before the labor day weekend, I gave them six keys and asked them to find the density. Now they are real chemists and are asked to find the metal of the keys using a density chart. 

Check out this list to find the density of your key.