A student wants to determine the density of a pine cone. He weighs the cone and

Question

A student wants to determine the density of a pine cone. He weighs the cone and prepares to find its volume. He submerges the pine cone in a graduated cylinder filled with water and records the water level. He realizes he forgot to record the initial water level of the graduated cylinder. Because he wants to get done with the lab, he removes the pine cone and records the water level. He uses this water level as the initial water level when he calculates density. Will his calculated density differ from the true density? If so, how and why?

Explanation / Answer

yes it will be different as actual process is to mark initial level and final volume to calculate the displacement of water and from that the volume of pine cone. but here if we forget to mark the initial mark then in the latter approach adopted will show less water level as there will be some water absorbed in the pine cone so true initial mark will drop and and more volume will be taken into account. so density=mass/volume so measured density will be less than the actual density.

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