# Homework Help: Difference between mass and volume

1. Oct 28, 2011

### logearav

1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

I have a beaker of capacity 500 ml and i fill it with 250 ml. Now, what is mass and volume of water?

2. Relevant equations

3. The attempt at a solution
Volume is the space occupied by matter, so i presume 250 ml is the volume of water. Mass is the quantity of matter, so again 250 ml is the mass of the water. Then what difference does mass and volume have?
1. The problem statement, all variables and given/known data

2. Relevant equations

3. The attempt at a solution

2. Oct 28, 2011

### grzz

The mass of a body is a measure of the difficulty a body meets with if :
a) it is to start moving given it was at rest
or
b) it is to stop given it was moving
or
c) it is to change its velocity.

3. Oct 28, 2011

### gash789

The easiest way to understand you problem is using the units. Using this site http://www.wolframalpha.com/input/?i=litre" under the "Physics quantities" tab we see that a Litre is a measure of volume.

A volume is the "space" inside of an object. So the water that is poured into the 500ml (ml=milliLitre or 1ml = 0.0001 * 1 litre ) container occupies 250ml. That is the volume of water.

To find the mass you require to know the density of water. Density is defined as
$density=\frac{mass}{volume}$
we usually give this in a mass per unit volume form, so you need to find this value. Then check that the units match with those you are using and find the mass.

Last edited by a moderator: Apr 26, 2017