This post is set up to provide support for students who are learning how to calculate density, and how to use the tools to do so.
To begin, Mark Drollinger has created a great tutorial video that teaches students how to use a triple beam balance.
Mr. Edmonds has created a song parody (based upon “I Will Follow Him” recorded by Little Peggy March) to remind students of the importance of reading from the bottom of the meniscus when measuring the volume of a liquid in a graduated cylinder. This song starts out slow, but speeds up for the last half.
To figure out how dense an object is, we first need to know its mass (how much matter, or stuff an object is made of) and its volume (how much space the object fills). Then the equation D=m/v can be used to calculate density. To remember this, I tell students to envision a bow in the shape of a capital “D”. The straight line is the string of the bow, and the curved part is the wooden portion. Next, I place two feathers and the the arrow to the right of the “D”, which looks like this: D =
Photo credit: Sean Gillette
Remembering Unit Conversions
BrainSTEM has created a short video helping students see how conversions are done. The mnemonic device that the narrator uses to remember the prefixes which go in front of the base units is: King Henry Died By Drinking Chocolate Milk. The first letter of each word, reminds people of the first word of each prefix used: kilo-, hecto- deka-, base unit, deci-, centi-, milli-.