water displacement

Volume of a Penny Lab – New!

Liz Belasic1 Comment

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Problem: How can we use water displacement to calculate the volume of one penny?

Materials:

  • Volume of a Penny Lab (PDF)
  • Graduated cylinders (25 mL, 50 mL, or 100 mL)
  • Cup or beaker of water, food coloring optional
  • Pennies – 100+ per group
  • Tub
  • Plastic Spoon – to pour water out of graduated cylinder and separate pennies

Screen Shot 2019-10-18 at 10.33.54 PM

This is a simple & fun lab to have students practice measuring and reading volume as well as use water displacement to determine the volume of  a penny – an irregularly shaped object.

Students will design their own series of 10 tests with the following criteria:

  • All pennies must be under water inside of the graduated cylinder.
  • The volume of water must not pass the 100 mL (or highest) increment.
  • All data is recorded carefully.

Students were able to carefully measure and determine that the volume of a penny was 0.35 mL – most students were very close with a range of 0.33 – 0.37 mL.

https://www.instagram.com/peckscience/

Finding the Volume of Irregularly Shaped Objects Using Water Displacement

Liz BelasicLeave a comment
Pouring water into the graduated cylinder - approximately 50 mL.
Pouring water into the graduated cylinder – approximately 50 mL.

(For lessons and resources on reading and using graduated cylinders, please see my related blog entry)

Materials:

  • 2 graduated cylinders per group of 4 students
  • 1 container of water per group
  • 1 plastic tray per group
  • 1 plastic spoon per group
    • this is used to stop item from falling into the container and to fish out items if needed
  • paper towels or cloth towels
  • green or blue food coloring – a few drops per 500 mL
    • adding food coloring helps the students to make accurate readings since it easier to see the water, plus it is fun to work with 🙂
    • I don’t like to use red or yellow, they tend to stain more than the blue and green food coloring
  • an assortment of small objects such as pennies, rubber stoppers, marbles, pebbles, etc…
  • Water Displacement – Volume Lab Handout (pdf)
Slowly adding objects into the graduated cylinder. Items like rocks, marbles, metal cubes/cylinders will crack the graduated cylinder if dropped in.
Slowly adding objects into the graduated cylinder. Items like rocks, marbles, metal cubes/cylinders will crack the graduated cylinder if dropped in.
All supplies are kept on lunch trays for easy clean up and spill control.
All supplies are kept on lunch trays for easy clean up and spill control.
Reading the meniscus on a level surface at eye level to ensure accurate readings.
Reading the meniscus on a level surface at eye level to ensure accurate readings.
After recording our measurements, we empty the water and contents. The plastic spoon helps to prevent items from falling into the beaker, and fish items out if they fall in.
After recording our measurements, we empty the water and contents. The plastic spoon helps to prevent items from falling into the beaker, and fish items out if they do fall in.

Additional Resources:

  • Measuring Liquid Volume Practice Sheet (pdf)
  • Common Core – Graduated Cylinder Worksheets (link)
  • Volume by Water Displacement Worksheets (pdf)
  • Finding volume using an overflow can (pdf)

For more lessons related to Properties of Matter click here (link)