How to Calculate the Weight of Copper in Water
Any object submerged in water or any other liquid reduces the weight because of buoyancy. Buoyancy is the upward force that is opposite to the force of gravity. Copper has the density of 8.96 g/cubic cm that is higher than the density of water. Thus, a copper object will completely sink in water displacing some volume. According to the Archimede's principle the volume of the displaced water is equals to the object volume. The loss in weight for an object corresponds to the mass of the displaced water.
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Instructions
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1
Measure or obtain elsewhere dimensions of the copper object. For example, the object has a rectangular prism shape with length, width and height being 20 cm, 12 cm and 15 cm, respectively.
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2
Calculate the volume of the copper object using the corresponding volume formula (see Reference) that depends upon the object's shape. In the example given, multiply length by width and height to calculate the volume. The volume is 20 cm x 12 cm x 15 cm = 3,600 cubic cm.
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3
Multiply the copper object volume by the copper density to calculate the object mass. In our example, the mass is 3,600 cubic cm x 8.96 g/cubic cm = 32,256 g or 32.256 kg.
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4
Find out the water density at the temperature of the experiment using the table "physical characteristics of water" given in the Resources. For example, water density at 25 Celsius is 997.13 kg/cubic m or 0.99713 g/cubic cm.
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5
Multiply the volume of the copper object by the water density to compute the weight loss due to the buoyancy. In the example, the weight loss is 3,600 cubic cm x 0.99713 g/cubic cm = 3589.668 g or 3.59 kg.
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6
Subtract the buoyancy weight loss from the object mass (Step 3) to calculate the weight of the copper object in water. In our example, it is 32.256 kg - 3.59 kg = 28.666 kg.
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