Place your empty beaker, jar, or other container onto a scale, and write down its mass in grams. Some scales allow you to “tare” the weight. This means once you have the container on the scale, you will press “tare”, and the scale will set the new mass equal to zero. This subtracts out the mass of anything on the scale for you.
1 ounce is approximately equal to 28. 35 grams. [4] X Research source 4 1 pound is about 453. 59 grams. [5] X Research source In these cases, you will multiply the mass of your object by the conversion factor of 28. 35 to convert ounces to grams or 453. 59 for pounds to grams.
1 milliliter is equal to 1 cubic centimeter. This makes liquid and gas conversions quite simple! There are different mathematical formulas for finding the volume of a rectangle, a cylinder, a pyramid, and so on. If the object is solid and non-porous with no regular dimensions to measure, such as a jagged rock, you can calculate its volume by immersing it in water and measuring the volume of water it displaces. By Archimedes’ principle, an object displaces a volume of liquid equal to its own volume. Simply subtract the original volume of the liquid from the combined volume of liquid with the solid in it. [8] X Research source
Consult your teacher or whomever the calculation is for to ask how many significant figures are needed. Usually rounding to 2 or 3 digits past the decimal place is plenty accurate. Therefore, a number like 32. 714907 could be rounded down to 32. 71 or 32. 715 g/cm3.
The same relationship will be true for other liquids. For example, when you try to mix olive oil and water, the oil will rise to the top since it is less dense than water. Specific gravity is another ratio that relates to density. Often it is the density of an object divided by the density of water (or another substance). The units cancel each other out, so you are just left with a number that represents relative masses. The number is often used in chemistry to determine concentrations of a substance in a solution. [12] X Research source
