BSP Combined Science Trilogy

Physics
Unit 0: Introduction to GCSE Physics

Name : ………………………………………………… Set : ………………. Teacher : ……………. Date : ………

Learning objective www ebi

3.1.1 Density
State the equation relating density, volume and mass
State the units of density and volume
Calculate the volume of a cuboid, sphere and cylinder
Use the density equation to calculate mass or volume
Graph plotting
Determine a suitable scale
Label axes
Plot points accurately with a cross
Draw a straight line of best fit
Determine the gradient of a straight line
Mathematical prefixes
Recognise situations in which prefixes are useful
Convert between prefixed numbers
Significant figures
Determine how many significant numbers in a number
Round numbers to a given number of significant numbers
Give answers to an appropriate number of significant figures
Standard form
Recognise standard form
Convert from and to standard form
Add, subtract, multiply and divide numbers in standard form, using a
calculator
3.1.1a Density

The density of a material is defined by the equation: density = mass/volume or ρ = m/V

Determine the density of regular solid objects and liquids

Density
The density of a material is defined as mass per unit volume. It is given by the equation:

=
where the density ρ (pronounced like “row”) is in kg/m3, the mass, m, is in kg and the volume, V, is in m3.
Sometimes density is measured in g /cm3. To convert to kg /m3, simply multiply by 1000.
Example 1 =
A material of volume 1.2 m has a mass of 3200 kg. Calculate its density.
3

=
= 3200 / 1.2
= 1500 kg/m3 (to 2 s.f.)

Q1a A material of volume 2.3 m3 has a mass ofQ1b

2700
Akstudent
g. Calculate
measures
its density
the mass
layingofyour
an 8.0
work
cm3
outblock
ex

Example 2
Gold has a density of 19 300 kg/m3. What is the mass of a gold bar whose volume is 0.00064 m 3?
=
19300 = m / 0.00064
19300 x 0.00064 = m (multiply both sides by
0.00064) m = 12 kg (to 2 s.f.)

Q2a Gold has a density of 19 300 kg/m3. What Q2b

is the mass
Calculate
of a the
goldmass
bar whose
of a liquid
volume
withisa0.25
density
m3?of 2.5

Pag
3.1.1a Density
Example 3
Aluminium has a density of 2700 kg/m 3. Calculate the volume of 135 g of aluminium.
Step 1: Convert g to kg
135 g = 135 ÷ 1000 = 0.135 kg
Step 2: Use the formula
=
2700 = 0.135 / V
2700 V = 0.135 (multiply both sides by V)
V = 0.135/2700 (Divide both sides by 2700)
= 0.00005 m3 (in standard form: 5.00 x 10-5 m3 )

Q3a Aluminium has a density of 2700 kg/m3. Calculate

Q3b Goldthe
has
volume
a density
of 2.5
of 19
kg 300
of aluminium,
kg/m3. What
laying
is the
out
vo

Example 4: Calculating the volume of a cuboid (cylinder and sphere are extension)
Cuboid Cylinder Sphere

Volume = width x height x length

=wxhxl Volume = π r2 h Volume = 4/3 π r3
Calculate the volumes of the following
A cuboid of width 4 cm, height 8 cm A cylinder of height 5 cm A sphere of radius 4 cm.
and length 5 cm. and radius 4 cm.

Pag
3.1.1a Density
Floating and sinking
Objects that are less dense than a liquid they are placed in will float while objects that are more dense
will sink. For example, most wood has a density of between 500-900 kg/m3 while water has a density of 1000
kg/m3. Predict whether the following metals will float or sink in water:
Metal Density kg/m3 Float / sink in
water
Sodium 970
Aluminium 2 700
Gold 19 300
Lithium 534
Potassium 862
Copper 8 940

Note: Human beings have an average density of 985 kg/m 3, less if they breathe in more air..

Questions
1. What two factors affect the density of a material?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

2. A chef fills a 50.0 cm3 container with 43.5 g of cooking oil.

a. What is the density of the oil? Give your answer in g/cm3.

b. Vinegar has a similar density to water. Explain why in an oil and vinegar dressing the oil floats on the
vinegar.

3. Calculate the mass of a liquid with a density of 2.5 g/cm3 and a volume of 15 cm3.

4. Calculate the volume of a liquid with a density of 5.45 g/cm3 and a mass of 65 g.

Pag
3.1.1a Density
5. A machine shop worker records the mass of an aluminium cube as 176 g. If one side of the cube
measures 4cm, what is the density of the aluminium?

6. Rocks are sometimes used along coasts to prevent erosion. If a rock needs to weigh 2,000 kilograms
(about 2 tons) in order not to be shifted by waves, how big (what volume) does it need to be? You
are using basalt, which has a typical density of 3200 kg/m3.

7. Calculate the density of a solid sphere with radius 2.0 cm, and mass 640 g.

8. Calculate the mass of 150 m of copper cable, of circular cross section with diameter
0.50 mm. (Density of copper = 8.9 g/cm3)

9. Calculate the volume of mercury in a container if the total mass is 5.5 kg, and the
empty container has mass 0.45 kg. (Density of mercury = 13.6  103 kg/ m3)

Pag
3.1.1a
Activity 1: Density of regular shaped objects
Aim: Measure the density of objects of different
shapes Equipment
30 cm ruler with 1mm resolution
digital top pan balance
regular shaped objects (choose at least one of each of cuboid, cylinder and
sphere) Vernier callipers (extension).

Method
1. For each object measure the length, width and height (or radius, as appropriate) and record your results.
2. Measure the mass of each object using the digital balance. Record the results.
3. Calculate and record the volumes.
4. Calculate and record the densities (mass ÷ volume).
5. Use the table below to identify the substance each object is made from.
6. Place each object gently in a beaker of water and note if it floats or sinks.

Risk assessment
This experiment is safe provided you handle the glassware with care and do not allow heavy metal objects to
fall into beakers.
Substance Aluminium Zinc Iron Copper Gold
Density in g/cm3 2.7 7.1 7.9 8.9 19.3

Results
Object Height/ Width/radius Length/ Volume/ Mass/ g Density/ Most likely Floats/sinks
cm cm cm cm3 g/cm3 substance in water

Look at your results and complete this sentence:

An object sinks in water if …………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Pag
 3.1.1a
Activity 2: Density of liquids

Equipment
digital balance
250 ml beaker (Note that 1 ml = 1
cm3) 100 ml measuring cylinder

Method
1. Measure the mass of the empty measuring cylinder.
2. Remove the measuring cylinder from the balance and carefully pour 20
cm3 of water into it. Read the volume very carefully, keeping your eye
level with the bottom of the meniscus. See the diagram on the right.
3. Measure the new mass of the measuring cylinder and water. Record your result in the table.
4. Repeat steps 3 and 4 until you have 100 cm3 of water in the measuring cylinder.
5. Calculate the mass of water for each volume of water.

Results
Mass of empty measuring cylinder:..............................................g
Volume of water / cm3 Mass of measuring cylinder Mass of water / g
plus
water / g

Observations
1. What happens to the mass of water as the volume of water increases?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
2. What happens to the mass of water as the volume doubles?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
3. What happens to the mass of water each time the volume increases by 20 cm3?
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
If your measurements were accurate you would have noticed a clear relationship between the volume of
water and the mass of water. If the volume doubles, so does the mass. If it triples, the mass triples and
so on. This is a proportional relationship.

Extension: Why do different materials have different densities? …………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Pag
3.1.1a
Proportionality and graphs
We say that the mass is proportional to the volume, written in symbol form as mass α volume or m α V. It
simply means that the mass is the volume multiplied by some number which happens to be the density. This
can be seen by writing density equation as m = ρ x V.

Sometimes we add the word directly i.e. the mass is directly proportional to the volume.

A graph of mass against volume shows this clearly. If the graph is a straight line through the origin, we can be
certain that the relationship is that of proportionality.
1. Plot a graph on the next page using the values in the table below. Draw the line of best fit. Use a
ruler and make sure that you have an equal number of points above and below the line, if they are
not on the line.
Volume of oil / cm3 Mass of oil / g
100 103
200 183
300 292
400 370
500 458
600 561

2. Does the line pass through or very close to the origin? Yes/No

3. Does the graph show that the mass of oil is proportional to the volume? Yes / No

4. Give two features of the graph that justify your answer ….

……………………………………………………………………………………
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
5. The gradient of the graph gives the density of the oil. Calculate the gradient, show your working clearly
onthe graph.
Density of oil from gradient: ……………………………………………… g/cm3 or...........................................kg/m3
6. Use your graph to predict the mass of 250 cm3 of oil. Show clearly on the graph how you obtained this
value.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
7. Use your graph to predict the volume of 480 g of oil. Show clearly on the graph how you obtained this
value.
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

8. Draw a line on the graph to show what the result would look like if water had been used instead of oil.

9. The density of olive oil is quoted as 917 kg/m3. Calculate the percentage difference between this and your
value. Give your answer to 2 significant figures. (percentage difference = quoted value – your value)/quoted
value x 100%
……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………
Pag
 3.1.1a

Title:

Pag
Mathematical
Prefix Symbol Name Multiplier
femto f quadrillionth 10-15
pico p trillionth 10-12
nano n billionth 10-9
micro µ millionth 10-6
milli m thousandth 10-33
kilo k thousand 10
mega M million 106
giga G billion 109
tera T trillion 1012
peta P quadrillion 1015

Use one of these mnemonics to help you remember the order of the prefixes, or create your own:

famished pupils need microsoft's millions

femto pico nano micro milli

King Midas's Gold Tempts People

kilo Mega Giga Tera Peta

It is important that the correct case is used when writing the symbols. Up to kilo, the symbol for the
prefix should be lower case. From mega upwards, it should be upper case.

When substituting values in Physics equations, you should generally use non-prefixed units except mass
which is in kilograms. For example, in the equation F=ma, the force must be in newtons, mass in
kilograms and accelerationin meters per second squared. If you are given a force in kilonewtons, you
must first convert the force to newtons.

Converting
To convert a unit with a prefix to one without, simply multiply the value by the multiplier from the table e.g.

• 5 nm = 5 x 10-9 m

• 2 km = 2 x 103 m

To convert a unit without a prefix to one with, divide the value by the multiplier from the table e.g.

• 1 m = 1 ÷ 10-9 nm = 109 nm

• 5.2 m = 5.2 ÷ 103 km = 5.2 x 10-3 km

Page
Mathematical
Converting between units with prefixes
Do this in two stages. Find the two multipliers, multiply by the first one and divide by the second one
e.g. to convert 5.2 µm to km:
1. Convert the µm to m by multiplying by the multiplier which is 10-6 from
the table: 5.2 µm = 5.2 x 10-6 m
2. Now convert the m to km by dividing by the second multiplier which
is 103: 5.2 x 10-6 m = 5.2 x 10-6 ÷ 103 km = 5.2 x 10-6 x 10-3
km = 5.2 x 10-9 km
Note: Lengths are sometimes measured in centimetres: 1 m = 100 cm or 1 cm = 0.01 m

Questions
1. What unit is best for measuring (Circle the best one)

a) The height of a person: A mm Bm C km

b) The mass of a loaded backpack A mg Bg C kg

c) The time a spacecraft would take to travel to the A hours B days C

Moon months
d) The diameter of a human hair A µm B mm C cm

2. Convert the following showing as much working as possible. Give answers in standard form with the correct
unit.
a)1 kg to g b) 2 m to mm

c) 1.4 kW to W d) 5.6 MC to C

e) 0.3 mA to A f) 340 GW to W

i) 5.46 µm to m j) 65 pm to m

k) 3 km to mm l) 0.98 nm to fm

m) 34kW to GW n) 76nN to kN

Page
Significant
The number of scientific figures in a scientific measurement tells us how precise a measurement is. For
example, if we measured your height using the centimetre scale of a metre rule, we might say it is 156 cm.
But, if we measure it using the millimetre scale, we can be more precise and say it is 156.3 cm. It is
important to give the correct number of significant numbers in any measurement. Zeroes at the beginning do
not count, but those in the middle or at the end do. 3.2 and 3.0 are both to 2 significant figures but 0.2 is
only one.
In calculations, the answer must be given to the same number of significant figures as the number in the
question with the smallest number of significant numbers. Some quantities such as the number of pupils are
always exactso we would ignore the number of significant figures in this case.
Example 1
Round the following to two significant figures:
a. 532 = 530 (2 s.f.) b. 536 = 540 ( 2 s.f.) c.504 = 500 (2 s.f.)
d. 0.0532 = 0.053 (2 s.f.) e. 0.599 = 0.60 (2 s.f.)
Example 2
Calculate 3.961 + 2.3 giving your answer to the appropriate number of significant
figures: 3.961 + 2.3 = 6.261 = 6.3 to 2 s.f.
The answer is given to 2 s.f. because one of the numbers given (2.3) is to 2 s.f.

Questions
1.State the number of significant figures in each of the following:
a) 7.3 b) 162.5

c) 306 d) 3.57

e) 7.005 f) 0.045

g) 0.00234 h) 82.030

i) 20.020200 j) 30.00

2.Round:
a) 15.256 to three significant figures. b) 0.00838 to two significant figures.

c) 14890 to one significant figure. d) 29.404 to four significant figures.

e) 3.0921 to two significant figures. f) 0.003519 to one significant figure.

3.Calculate the following, giving your answer to an appropriate number of significant figures: You may
usea calculator.
a) 2.56 x 7.1 = b) 7.90 + 2.987 =

c) 90.5 ÷ 3.1 = d) 5.0 ÷ 2 (exactly) =

e) 1.26 x 10-2 x 9.8

Page
Standard
Standard form, or scientific notation, is a system of writing numbers which can be particularly useful for
working with very large or very small numbers. It is based on using powers of 10 to express how big or
small a number is. Standard form is written in the form of a x 10n, where a is a number bigger than or equal
to 1 and less than 10. n is called the exponent and can be any positive or negative whole number.

If the exponent is positive, the number is large. The Sun is 1.5 x 1018 m from the

Earth. If it is negative, the number is small. An atom is about 1 x 10-10 m in diameter.

Examples
300 = 3 x 102 200 000 000 = 2 x 108 760 = 7.6 x 102 2 345 = 2.345 x 103

0.2 = 2 x 10-1 0.004 = 4 x 10-3 100.2 = 1.002 x 102 -0.980 = -9.8 x 10-1

Questions

1. Write down the exponent for these numbers when they are written in standard

form: a) 1 b) 10

c) 0.1 d) 10 000

e) a million f) 0.001

2. Circle the bigger number (you may find it helpful to write the numbers in the same

form first) a) 2500 or 2.4 x 104 b) 1.2 x 103 or 4.5 x 102

c) 0.987 or 9 x 10-2 d) 3 x 108 or 299 999 999

3. Put a tick next to the correct statements below. Correct the right hand side of the ones that

are wrong: a) 300 = 3 x 102 b) 900 000 = 9 x 105

c) 876 = 87.6 x 102 d) 0.3 = 3 x 10-1

d) 0.076 = 07.6 x 10-2 f) 1.5 x 103 = 1 500

4. Convert these numbers into normal form.

a) 5 x 103 b) 3 x 108

c) 9.38 x 102 d) 4.543 x 104

Page
Standard
5. Convert these numbers into standard form.
a) 60 000 b) 280

c) 5484 d) 480 000

6. Convert these numbers into normal form.

a) 8  10-1 b) 2  10-3

c) 1.2  10-5 d) 8.88  10-1

7. Convert these numbers to standard form.

a) 0.0005 b) 0.987

c) 0.0052 d) 0.0000605

8. List these numbers in ascending (increasing) order:

2.898 x 10-5 8.2 x 103 9.9 x 10-8 1.01 x 109 6.4 x 102

9. Calculate the following, giving your answer in standard form. You may use a

calculator: a) 4.0 x 105 + 2.1 x 105 b) 7.3 × 102 - 8.2 × 103

c) 3.5 x 10-1 + 8 x 102 d) 6 × 10-1 - 5 × 10-2

e) 2.0 × 103 x 4.0 × 104 f) 2.0 × 10-2 x 3.2 × 10-4

g) 9 × 103 ÷ 3 × 102 h) 4.8 × 10-2 ÷ 1.2 × 10-1

Page