LabWriteUp:PennyDensityLab

1.TITLE:
TheEffectonDensityofaPennyoftheChangeofTheirMetalComposition

2.ABSTRACT:
Before1982,penniesweremadeupofcopper,however,after1982,thecompositionofpennieschangedto
majorityofZincwithacoppercoating.(PennyLabHandout2016)Wewerewonderingwhichpenniesaremore
denseandwehypothesizedthatifpenniesaremadeofcopper,thentheywillhavemoremasscomparedtothe
penniesmadewithzincwithacoppercoatingbecausecopperismoredensethanzinc.Copperhasadensityof8.86
g/mL,whilezinchasadensityof7.13g/mL.Toanswerourquestionandseeifourhypothesisissupported,weuseda
seriesofsteps.Ourprocedurewastoseparatethepenniesintwobypre1982andpost1982.Then,wetook13
penniesthatwerePre1982and13penniesthatwerePost1982.Webeganwithcollectingdataforthemassthenthe
volume.Tofindthemass,weputtheweighboatontopofthescaleandmeasuredthemassfor1,2,3,5,7,9and
lastly13penniesforbothPre1982andPost1982.Then,tofindthevolumeweobservedthechangeinitswater
displacementwhenapennyisdroppedinthegraduatedcylinder.Wedecidedtofillupthegraduatedcylinderstarting
on30mmofwater.Weput1,2,3,5,7,9andlastly13penniesforbothPre1982andPost1982andrecordedour
dataforeach.Lastly,wecalculatedthedensitybygrapingthemassandvolume,thenlookingfortheslope,which
wasy=9.223x7.346forPre1982penniesandy=7.064x2.413forPost1982pennies.Accordingtoourdata,thePre
1982pennieshadagreaterdensitythanPost1982pennies.Inconclusion,ourhypothesiswassupportedaspredicted
becausethedensityofcopperisheavier.

3.INTRODUCTION:
BeforestartingourPennyDensityLab,wehadlittlepriorknowledgeonthetopic.Wewereinformedthat
copperhasahigherdensitythanzinc.WeknewthatPre1982penniesandPost1982pennieshavedifferent
compositions.Pre1982ismadeentirelyoutofcopper,whilePost1982ismadeofzincwithacoppercoating.
((PennyLabHandout2016).Wealsoknewhowtocalculatethemassofapennybyusingascale,thevolumeofa
pennybyusingthegraduatedcylinderandthedensitybygraphingusingy=mx+bandusingtheformula
mass/volume.Duringtheexperiment,weobservedbyfeelingthetextureofthePre1982andPost1982pennies.
Withoutintentions,wecouldalsosmellthestrongscentofthepennies.Lastly,wecouldseethelittlechangeofwater
displacementandhearhowthepenniesdroppeddownthegraduatedcylinder.

4.QUESTION&HYPOTHESIS:
Question
:
Whichpenniesaremoredense?

Hypothesis
:
Ifpenniesaremadeofcopperthentheywillhavemoremasscomparedtothepenniesmade
withzincwithacoppercoatingbecausecopperismoredensethanzinc.

5.MATERIALS:

Scale
GraduatedCylinder
Water
Pennies
WeighBoat

6.PROCEDURE:
1. Weseparatedthepenniesintwobypre1982andpost1982.
2. Wetook13penniesthatwerePre1982and13penniesthatwerePost1982.

3. Tofindthemass,weputtheweighboatontopofthescaleandmeasuredthemassfor1,2,3,5,7,9and
lastly13penniesforbothPre1982andPost1982.
4. Werecordedthedataforeachone.
5. Thenwelookedforthevolumebyusingagraduatedcylinderanditswaterdisplacementbydecidingtofillup
thecylinderstartingon30mmofwater.Weput1,2,3,5,7,9andlastly13penniesforbothPre1982and
Post1982.
6. Werecordedthedataforeachone.
7. Wecalculatedthedensitybygraphingthemassandthevolume.

7.RESULTS:
DataTable
:

Pre1982Pennies

#ofPennies

Post1982Pennies

Volume

Mass

#ofPennies

Volume

Mass

3
1cm

3.1g

3
5cm

2.4g

3
1.5cm

6.1g

3
1cm

5.0g

3
2cm

9.2g

3
1.75cm

7.5g

3
2.5cm

15.4g

3
2cm

12.4g

3
3cm

21.5g

3
2.75cm

17.5g

3
3.75cm

27.7g

3
3.5cm

20.5g

13

3
5cm

38.5g

13

3
4.75cm

32.6g

Graphs
:Density=Mass/Volume

PatternStatement
:
Ourpatterniswhenthemassincreases,thenthevolumeincreases.
Evidence
:Thepatternissupportedbyourdatatablesandisvisuallypresentedbyourgraphs.

8.CONCLUSION:
Accordingtoallofthedatathatwecollectedthroughoutourexperiment,ourhypothesiswasacceptedbecause
ourresultssupportedourpredictionthatthevolumeandmassofthepenniesthatweremadeoutofentirelycopper
willbedenserthanthepenniesthatweremadeoutofzincwithacoppercoating.Someerrorsthatweperformed
duringourexperimentwasthatwedidnotreadtheinstructionsonthePennyDensityLabworksheetbefore
conductingourexperimentbecauseoriginallyweonlyweighed1pennyatatime,untilanothergroupinformedus
thatweweresupposedtoway1,2,3,5,7,9and13pennies.Unfortunately,thisresultedusonperformingthe
experimenttwotimes.Wecanimproveourexperimentbyhavingbetterteamworkandcommunicationbecause
throughouttheexperimentourgrouphadadifficulttimewithcommunication.Ibelievethatcommunicationisahuge
partofconductinganexperiment.Althoughourteammadeanexcessiveamountofmistakes,wetrulybelievethatour
resultsareconclusivebecausewealsocheckedwiththeanotherteamifwehadaboutthesamedata.Theotherteam
andmyteamworkedtogethertomakesureourdatawereindisputable.
Weinferredthatthepatternofthecopperpenniesandthezincwithacoppercoatingpenniesexistbecause
theysimplyhavedifferentmeasurementsofmassandvolumebecausetheyaretwodifferentelements.Wealso
noticedthatthemassof2penniesisapproximatelythemassof1pennymultipliedbytwoandsoon.Ourfindings
intriguedusbecausewelearnedaboutthehistoryofpenniesandtheamountdensityoftheelementsofwhichtheyare
madeoutof.Wealsothinkthatmostofthehumanpopulationdidntevennoticedorcouldcarelessaboutthe
differencebetweenPre1982penniesandPost1982pennies.Asaresultofourresearchwewerewondering,whydid
theydecidetochangewhatpenniesweremadeoutof?Didtheyrunoutofcopper?Didtheywanttomakethepennies
lighter?

9.CITATIONS:
Unknown.
PennyLabHandout.RetrievedFebruary23,2016frommshosford.weebly.com