Density of Substances: Laboratory

Station #1: Sink or Swim

With your table team, answer the following question.
Will the raisin, paperclip, penny, ball of paper, or lego sink or float if they are placed in
water, corn syrup, and vegetable oil?

Procedure:
1. Gently set a raisin in each beaker. Does it sink or float? Record what happens in
each beaker.

2. Take the raisins out of the beakers. Gently set a paperclip in each beaker. Does
it sink or float? Record what happens in each beaker.

3. Take the paperclips out of the beakers. Gently set a penny in each beaker. Does
it sink or float? Record what happens in each beaker.
 4. Take the pennies out of the beakers. Gently set a paper ball in each beaker.
Does it sink or float? Record what happens in each beaker.

5. Take the paper ball out of the beakers. Gently set a lego in each beaker. Does it
sink or float? Record what happens in each beaker.

Were your predictions right? Did the object you think would float, float? Did the objects
you think would sink, sink?

Why do you think they acted the way they did?

 Density of Substances: Laboratory
Station #2: Mix it up
Which is the most dense: water, corn syrup, or vegetable oil? Which is the least dense?
Based on your results from experiment #1, predict which liquid you think is the most
dense and which you think is the least dense.

Procedure:
1. Place a few drops of food coloring into the beaker of water so you will be able to
tell it apart from the other liquids.
2. Carefully pour each of the liquids into a beaker or a large jar. Let them settle.
3. What happened? Did the three liquids mix together or separate into layers?
Which liquid is at the bottom of the jar? Which is at the top?

Was your prediction right? If so, the liquid you thought was densest should be at the
bottom of the jar. The next dense will float on top of that, and the least dense will float at
the very top.
 Density of Substances: Laboratory
Station #3: Salty or Sweet
Will adding salt make water more dense? Will adding sugar make water more dense?
Which is denser, sugar water or salt water? Write down what you think will happen to
the density of water if you add salt or sugar.

Procedure:
1. Fill three beakers with 150 ml (2/3 cup) of water. Add food coloring to make blue,
red, and green water.
2. Add 2 teaspoons of salt to the red beaker and stir until the salt is dissolved. Add
2 teaspoons of sugar to the blue water and stir until it is dissolved.
3. Try putting a raisin in each of the beakers. Does it float? Remove the raisins with
a spoon.

4. Pour some of the red (salty) water into the graduated cylinder. Using the pipet,
slowly add the blue (sugar) water one or two drops at a time. Record which sinks
to the bottom and which floats on top.

5. Add the green (pure) water drop-by-drop to the other two and record what
happens.

Were your predictions correct? Did adding salt and sugar to the water make the water
more dense or less dense? Which was more dense, the salt water or the sugar water?
 Density of Substances: Laboratory
Station #4: Sink or float 2
Make a prediction: which sodas will float and which sodas will sink.

Procedure:
Place each can of soda tub of water. Make your observations. Which cans sank and
which ones float?

was you prediction correct? Explain