After that, they did a Gizmo warm-up which familiarized them with the virtual exploration by measuring the mass of objects on a scale, and measuring the volume of objects using water displacement in a graduated cylinder.
The essential question then focused their activity, How do mass and volume affect sinking and floating?
During the Gizmo, students filled in a chart with each object's mass and volume, and then whether the object would sink or float when placed in the beaker. This is a sample of their chart.
Object
|
Prediction
(sink or float?)
|
Mass
|
Volume
|
Result
(sink or float?)
|
Ping pong ball
|
F
|
3.0 g
|
36.0 mL
|
Float
|
Golf ball
|
S
|
45.0 g
|
36.0 mL
|
Sink
|
Apple
|
F
|
33.0 g
|
44.0 mL
|
Float
|
Chess piece
|
S
|
40.0 g
|
80.0 mL
|
Float
|
Penny
|
S
|
3.0 g
|
0.4 mL
|
Sink
|
Rock
|
S
|
200.0 g
|
50.0 mL
|
Sink
|
They analyzed their results and concluded that you could not predict whether an object would sink or float using the mass alone, because the mass of a ping pong ball and penny were both 3 grams and one floated while the other sank. Based on the volume alone, they concluded that you could not predict whether an object would float or sink, because the volume of a ping pong ball and golf ball were both 36 mL and one floated while the other sank.
However,
mass and volume, when considered together could predict whether an
object would sink or float. When an object's mass was less than the
object's volume, the object floated. When an object's mass was more
than an objects volume, then the object would sink. Density refers to the mass found in a given volume of a substance.
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