What Are Archimedes's Density?

Archimedes discovered Density when he was set on a mission to figure out if a craftsman had given the king a pure gold crown or had defrauded him with silver instead. Archimedes pondered this when he was in a pool. When he slipped himself into the pool he realized that some water had spilled over. Archimedes then had an epiphany and realized that the amount of water that spilled over was equal in volume to the space that his body took up. Archimedes then applied this epiphany to differentiating whether the king's crown was silver or gold. Archimedes put the Craftsman's crown and a pure gold crown of the same mass in two tubs of water. He observed that more water spilled over the sides of the tub when the craftsman's crown was submerged.

Density is a physical property of matter that expresses a relationship of mass to volume. The more mass an object possesses the more dense it is. The formula for density is density = mass/volume. Due to buoyancy if an object is less dense than the fluid in which it is placed, it will float. If it is more dense than the fluid, it will sink. Density is also connected to other intensive property such as temperature. Many materials expand when they are heated. Because a material expands its density decreases. The density in water may change due to the addition of minerals. Density is important when constructing buildings, airplanes and ships, because weight and weight distribution is important considerations for safety. In this lab you will be using the same water displacement lab to measure the density of different unidentified metals. You will then calculate it using the Density formula shown earlier in the text.