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Understanding Density and Conversions

Density is defined as mass per unit volume, expressed in kg/m³ or g/cm³. The document provides examples of the densities of various materials, illustrating how to calculate mass and volume using density. It also includes conversion between kg/m³ and g/cm³ for practical applications in engineering and material science.

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Naomi Senhouse-Jordan
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12 views5 pages

Understanding Density and Conversions

Density is defined as mass per unit volume, expressed in kg/m³ or g/cm³. The document provides examples of the densities of various materials, illustrating how to calculate mass and volume using density. It also includes conversion between kg/m³ and g/cm³ for practical applications in engineering and material science.

Uploaded by

Naomi Senhouse-Jordan
Copyright
© All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd

Density

In everyday language, lead is said to be ‘heavier' than wood or steel to be


heavier than plastic. By this it is meant that a certain volume of lead is
heavier than the same volume of wood. In science such comparisons are
made by using the term density. This is the mass per unit volume of a
substance.
That is,
3
Kg/m - Kilograms per metre cubed

Where 'ρ' (Rho) is the density, 'm' is mass and 'V' is the volume.

3
The density of lead is 11 grams per cubic centimetre (11 g/cm ) and this
means that a piece of lead of volume 1 cm3 has mass 11 g. A volume of 5
cm3 of lead would have mass 55g. If the density of a substance is known,
then the mass of any volume of it can be calculated.
This enables engineers to work out the weight of a structure if they know
from the plans, the volumes of the materials to be used and their densities.
Which then ensures that strong enough foundations can then be made.
3
The SI unit of density is the kilogram (Kg) per cubic metre (m ). The
approximated densities of some common substances are given in Table
5.1.

Solids 3 Liquids 3
Density/(g/cm ) Density/(g/cm )

aluminium 2.7 paraffin 0.80


copper 8.9 petrol 0.80

iron 7.9 pure water 1.0

gold 19.3 mercury 13.6

glass 2.5 Gases 3


Density/ (kg/m )

wood (teak) 0.80 air 1.3

ice 0.92 hydrogen 0.09

polythene 0.90 carbon dioxide 2.0

Calculations

Using the symbols ρ (rho) for density, m for mass and V for volume, the
expression for density is

Rearranging the expression gives:

These are useful if ρ is known and m or V have to be calculated.


Worked Example
Taking the density of copper as 9 g/cm3,
1.​ Find a the mass of 5 cm3 of copper.
2.​ Find the volume of 63 g.

3
a) ρ = 9 g/cm , V = 5 cm3

3 3
m = (5cm ) x (9 g/cm )

m = 45g

b) ρ= 9 g/cm3, m = 63g and V is to be found.


Converting to and from Kg/m3 and g/cm3

We know that,

1Kg = 1000g
1m = 100cm

And

1g = 0.001Kg
1cm = 0.01m

Therefore since ,

we get,

and

Therefore,

(so 4.3 Kgm-3 = 4.3 x 0.001 gcm-3 = 0.0043gcm-3 )

And

(so 8.9 gcm-3 = 8.9 x 1000 Kgm-3 = 8900 Kgm-3 )

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