A student finds a medallion which could be made of pure platinium or silver. IN order to find out what the medallion is made of the student takes the medallion to a chemistry lab. The student measures the density of the medallion as follows. The medallion is placed on a balance and the mass is found to be 35.64g. The student places some water in a graduated cylinder and reads the volume as 65.5mL. Next, the medallion is dropped into the cylinder and the new volume reads 68.89mL. Is the Medallion platinum or Silver? (densities: platinum= 21.4g/mL Silver= 10.5g/mL
mass=35.64 g
volumes = 3.39 ml
use
Density = mass/volume
but I think you can see which metal it is with out calculating the density.
To determine whether the medallion is made of platinum or silver, we can use the concept of density, which is defined as mass divided by volume. By comparing the density of the medallion to the known densities of platinum and silver, we can determine its composition.
First, let's calculate the volume of the medallion. The initial volume of the water in the graduated cylinder is 65.5 mL. After the medallion is dropped in, the volume increases to 68.89 mL. Therefore, the volume of the medallion can be calculated by subtracting the initial volume from the final volume:
Medallion volume = Final volume - Initial volume = 68.89 mL - 65.5 mL = 3.39 mL
Next, we can use the given mass of the medallion, which is 35.64 g, and the calculated volume to find its density. The formula for density is:
Density = Mass / Volume
Medallion density = 35.64 g / 3.39 mL
By solving this calculation, we find that the density of the medallion is approximately 10.51 g/mL.
Comparing this density value to the known densities of platinum and silver, we can conclude that the medallion is made of silver. Platinum has a density of 21.4 g/mL, which is much higher than the measured density of the medallion. Silver, on the other hand, has a density of 10.5 g/mL, which matches closely with the measured density.