Solve Volume Density Problem for College Physics [Answer Included]

  • Context: Undergrad 
  • Thread starter Thread starter groundknifer
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Density Volume
Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around a volume density problem encountered in a college physics course. Participants are attempting to solve the problem correctly, sharing their calculations and addressing errors in their approaches. The scope includes mathematical reasoning and conceptual clarification related to density and atomic calculations.

Discussion Character

  • Homework-related
  • Mathematical reasoning
  • Technical explanation
  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant expresses frustration over receiving an incorrect answer from an online submission system, despite consistent calculations yielding a specific value.
  • Another participant requests to see the original calculations to identify potential errors.
  • A participant shares their volume calculations for different parts of an object, leading to a total volume and subsequent mass calculation using the density of iron.
  • One participant corrects their earlier calculation, arriving at a new mass value and then attempts to calculate the number of iron atoms based on that mass.
  • Another participant points out a common mistake regarding the counting of intersections in the geometry of the problem and emphasizes the importance of unit consistency in calculations.
  • A later reply highlights the significance of significant figures in the final answer, suggesting that the calculated result should reflect the precision of the input values.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants do not reach a consensus on the correct final answer, as there are differing calculations and interpretations of significant figures. Multiple competing views on the approach to the problem remain evident.

Contextual Notes

Participants express uncertainty regarding the correct application of significant figures and the implications of their calculations on the final answer. There are unresolved issues related to the geometry of the object being analyzed.

Who May Find This Useful

Students studying physics, particularly those dealing with volume density problems and significant figures in calculations, may find this discussion relevant.

groundknifer
[SOLVED] Simple volume density problem..

Hello, my college is some how affiliated with utexas so we got to do all our
physics probs online and submit them to utexas... the problem is that if i
get 51.12 and the correct answer is 50.3 (tolerance 1%) then i get it
wrong!

So here's 1 problem were i keep on getting same answer but according to
website its wrong:
http://f0rk.com/~dmitri/prob.jpg

can someone gimme correct answer please, i keep on getting 25.59 and its
wrong!@#!@#

THANKS!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
Physics news on Phys.org
Well, I'm getting a different answer.

Can you post your work so we can see where the problem is?
 
Volume_top_part=1.07m x .00517m x .168m = .000929m^3
Volume_middle_part=1.07 x .00517m x .276m = .001527m^3
Volume_bottom_part=Volume_top_part

V_total=.00398m^3

density of iron is 7560 kg/m^3
density=mass/volume

so,
7560kg/m^3=mass/.00398m^3
mass=30.11

is that correct?
 
ok i found my mistake.. i got 25.162 (thats correct i think)

also i ran into a problem while finding the amount of iron atoms in that mass...

my equation is:
avogadros number: 6.022x10^23
atomic mass (iron): 55.85

25.162 x ((6.022x10^23)/55.85) = 2.713E+23
 
Yeah, you were counting the intersection of the T's twice. The trick is to count the top and bottom, and then use h-2d instead of h for the height of the center piece.

For the next part, the atomic mass* Avogadros number is number per gram, and you are working with kilograms.

Always keep the units in your equations. If in doubt, make sure they all cancel. That is the #A1 "gotcha" for all intro level science classes.

Welcome to Physicsforums, BTW
 
Originally posted by groundknifer
ok i found my mistake.. i got 25.162 (thats correct i think)

also i ran into a problem while finding the amount of iron atoms in that mass...

my equation is:
avogadros number: 6.022x10^23
atomic mass (iron): 55.85

25.162 x ((6.022x10^23)/55.85) = 2.713E+23

If you submit that answer my class you would still be wrong. Notice that most of the given numbers have only 3 siginificant digits. That is the most that you can have in your answer. The above number simply shows you used a calculator, it should read 25.2, given the numbers used to generate it.
 

Similar threads

  • · Replies 15 ·
Replies
15
Views
2K
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
2K
Replies
11
Views
2K
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
4K
  • · Replies 9 ·
Replies
9
Views
4K
Replies
3
Views
6K
  • · Replies 16 ·
Replies
16
Views
3K
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
3K
  • · Replies 11 ·
Replies
11
Views
2K
Replies
19
Views
3K