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Becoming a Metal Detective Name: ___________________

ROUGH COPY

Background:
Metals are solids that are usually shiny, malleable (bendable), good conductors of electricity and
good conductors of heat energy.

Purpose:
You will examine four physical properties in an attempt to correctly determine whether or not an
object or substance is a metal. The properties will be lustre and density.

Equipment:
Make a list of all the equipment needed to complete
this lab experiment in your notebook.

Procedure:
Use the characteristic property of Density to determine the identity
of all the unknown blocks. Use the method of your choice to find the
volume of each block. Calculate density for each block.

Observations: Complete the following chart


Block Number Lustre (shiny or Mass (g) Volume (mL) Density (g/mL)
dull?)
Densities of common metals and metal alloys...
Material Density Material Density
Aluminum 2.7g/mL Bronze (copper and tin) 7.0g/mL
Copper 8.96g/mL Steel (iron and carbon) 7.8g/mL
Silver 10.5g/mL Platinum 21.45g/mL
Iron 7.8g/mL Brass (copper and zinc) 8.5g/mL
Chromium 7.0g/mL Lead 11.35g/mL

Additional Lab Report Instructions


Follow directions to complete the lab report based on this experiment. Follow all the directions
and steps of the lab report carefully. Below are the Discussion Questions that will be TYPED and
answered in your lab report.

If you are unsure how to show your work and write a therefore sentence, you can complete
the calculations on a separate sheet of paper and attach them to your Lab Rubric.

If you create the graph on Graph Paper, attach the hand written graph to your Lab Rubric.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS:
Answer in complete sentences in your typed Lab report.

1) Identify each black block from the list of substances densities below. Create a table that
includes the block number and identity. (2 marks)

2) a) What can you conclude about the steepness of the slope of a line on a density graph and
the calculated density? (1 mark)
b) Which sample was the most dense and which sample was the least dense? (1 mark)

3) What is the amount of space (volume) taken up by a tank filled with 2000g of liquid mercury
(Density of Mercury =13.69g/cm3)? (2 marks)

4) Explain how thermometers work using your knowledge of Kinetic Theory. Do you think the
density of liquid mercury can be changed when the temperature increases? Fully explain why.
(3 marks)

5) How is density a characteristic physical property? Fully explain your answer with reference to
the definition. (2 marks)

6) A) I have 12 cm3 of aluminum, magnesium & iron. What is the volume of each metal? Show
your work.
B) Using your knowledge of density, explain why airplanes are constructed mostly of an alloy of
mostly aluminium (D = 2.7g/cm3) and magnesium (D = 1.74g/cm3) instead of iron (D =
7.9g/cm3). (6 marks)

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