1.3 Mass, Weight & Density

A dummy, named Starman, dressed in a white racing suit, was launched into space by Elon Musk’s first Falcon Heavy rocket. Starman was sent on a journey towards Mars.

Compared with being on the Earth’s surface, how do Starman’s mass and weight change when he is on his journey to Mars?

The diagram shows a ball of bread dough, before and after it has been compressed (had the air knocked out of it).

What happens to the mass and the weight of the dough when it is compressed?

An astronaut buys a 5.0 kg tin of Quality Street chocolates on Earth.

She takes that 5.0 kg tin of Quality Street chocolate to the Moon.

What is the mass of the tin of Quality Street chocolate on the Moon?

An object is put on the left hand side of the balance, shown below, in order to determine its weight.

Masses are added to the right hand side until it balances.

The table below shows the effect of various weight combinations.

Which of the masses below is most likely to be the mass of the object?

A cheesemonger uses a newton meter to measure the weight of a block of cheese.

The cheese has a weight of 5.0 N

What is the approximate mass of the cheese?

A block of an unknown material is shown in the diagram.

It's mass is 500 g.

What is the density of the block?

A teacher wants to measure the density of a wooden cylinder.

She measures the radius, height and mass of the cylinder.

Which of the measurements that she has taken are required to calculate the density of the cylinder?

The masses and volumes of four different objects are given in the table.

Which of the objects has the lowest density?

A block is shown in the diagram. It has a mass of m.

Which expression, below, could be used to calculate the density of the block?

Four blocks, W, X , Y and Z are shown below.

Which of the two blocks have the same density?

A baker uses a balance to weigh out some ingredients to make bread.

She weighs out some white flour, then she weighs out some wholemeal flour. She notices that the reading on the balance is the same for both types of flour.

The baker can conclude that the two flours have the same:

The diagram shows a measuring cylinder containing a liquid , and that same measuring cylinder when it is empty.

What is the density of the liquid?

A geologist wants to determine the density of the object shown below.

What needs to be known in order to calculate its density ?

Two beams have the same rectangular cross section, but one is longer than the other.

Both beams are made from the same material.

Which quantity is the same in both beams?

A student wants to measure the density of a piece of rock. She starts by measuring its mass ,  and finds that it is 2500 g.

Next she puts 500 cm³ of water into a large measuring cylinder , then adds the rock. The level in the measuring cylinder rises to 800 cm³.

What is the density of the rock?

Some unknown liquid in a beaker has a mass of 200 g and a volume of 230 cm³.

The density of water is 1.0 g/cm³

How does the density of the unknown liquid compare with the density of water?

The two diagrams below show a measuring cylinder.

In the diagram on the left, the measuring cylinder is empty. In the diagram on the right, the measuring cylinder contains a liquid.

What is the density of the liquid?

A lump of butter has a volume of 350 cm³ and a mass of 319 g.

What is the density of the butter?

A cube of side length 5 cm is placed on a mass balance.

What is the density of the cube?

An astronaut has a mass of 80 kg on the Earth.

The gravitational field strength on the Moon is 1.6 N/kg.

What is the weight of the astronaut on the Moon?

An astronaut has a mass of 80 kg on the Earth.

The gravitational field strength on the Moon is 1.6 N/kg.

What is the mass of the astronaut on the Moon?

The density of a block of wood is 2.7 g/cm³ and a mass of 583.8 g.

What is its volume?