A piece of metal has a mass of 200 g and a volume of 40 cm3. What is its specific gravity?

To find the specific gravity of a substance, you need to compare its density to the density of water. The specific gravity is the ratio of the density of the substance to the density of water.

1. First, we need to find the density of the metal. Density (ρ) is defined as mass (m) divided by volume (V). The formula is: ρ = m/V.

2. In this case, the mass of the metal is given as 200 g, and the volume is given as 40 cm3. So, we have ρ = 200 g / 40 cm3.

3. To simplify the calculation, we convert the volume from cm3 to mL (since the density of water is usually given in g/mL). We know that 1 cm3 is equal to 1 mL. Therefore, the volume becomes 40 mL.

4. Now we can calculate the density of the metal: ρ = 200 g / 40 mL.

5. The density of water is approximately 1 g/mL (or 1 g/cm3).

6. Finally, we can calculate the specific gravity by dividing the density of the metal by the density of water: Specific Gravity = (density of metal) / (density of water).

Let's perform the calculations:

Density of the metal (ρ) = 200 g / 40 mL = 5 g/mL.
Density of water = 1 g/mL.

Specific Gravity = 5 g/mL / 1 g/mL = 5.

Therefore, the specific gravity of the metal is 5.