TITLE: Mineral density lab
I. GUIDING QUESTION/S Does the density of a mineral depend on the size of the mineral sample?
II.HYPOTHESIS Yes. Because, the bigger the mineral it’s more dense.
III. Materials : Water, graduated cylinder, botic mica, sulfur, crystalline quartz, balance scale.
Procedure:
1: We pick different minerals.
2: We fill the graduated cylinder with water
3: We measure each mineral with the balance scale and measure
4. We put each mineral in the water and observe how much the water rises.
IV. RECORD & ANALYZE ( We observe carefully and write down, or record, everything that happens.)
When we finish collecting data, we may need to do some calculations with it.)
Table of collected data:
V ANALYZES OF DATA :
Most minerals have different density. Only the crystalline quartzes 1 and 2, both, had the same density. However, density of minerals does not depend on the mass and volume of the samples. For example, our smallest sample was mica 2, but it has the highest density. On the other hand, our biggest sample was of sulfur 2 which was the least dense.
VI. Concept Acquisition (CONCLUSION):
My hypothesis that "the bigger the mineral, the more dense mineral " was wrong. We used different sizes of samples, but their density does not depend of their size. I was rather surprised by the results of this lab.
VII. Concept Application (FURTHER INQUIRY):
I. GUIDING QUESTION/S Does the density of a mineral depend on the size of the mineral sample?
II.HYPOTHESIS Yes. Because, the bigger the mineral it’s more dense.
III. Materials : Water, graduated cylinder, botic mica, sulfur, crystalline quartz, balance scale.
Procedure:
1: We pick different minerals.
2: We fill the graduated cylinder with water
3: We measure each mineral with the balance scale and measure
4. We put each mineral in the water and observe how much the water rises.
IV. RECORD & ANALYZE ( We observe carefully and write down, or record, everything that happens.)
When we finish collecting data, we may need to do some calculations with it.)
Table of collected data:
Line Graph of collected data:
Most minerals have different density. Only the crystalline quartzes 1 and 2, both, had the same density. However, density of minerals does not depend on the mass and volume of the samples. For example, our smallest sample was mica 2, but it has the highest density. On the other hand, our biggest sample was of sulfur 2 which was the least dense.
VI. Concept Acquisition (CONCLUSION):
My hypothesis that "the bigger the mineral, the more dense mineral " was wrong. We used different sizes of samples, but their density does not depend of their size. I was rather surprised by the results of this lab.
VII. Concept Application (FURTHER INQUIRY):
- Since I was surprised by the results, I would like to know what makes one mineral dense and the other less dense. I assume that it has to do something with the chemical composition of each mineral.
- I think that the lab went well. My cooperation with the partner was good and we worked together well. The only error is that the final work was finished kind of late.
