Density Belongs to the Substance

You'll learnthat density is a property of the substance, unchanged by sample size.

Grow the sample, shrink it, saw it in half — one number refuses to react. Meet the property that tells aluminum from pine at any size, and quietly runs everything else in this unit.

8 STEPS · 6 QUICK CHECKS · v5

DENSITY LAB

Before you start

What you're looking at

An aluminum brick of 270 kg and an aluminum shaving of 0.3 g, each on its own pedestal.

The question

Two aluminum samples differing a millionfold in mass — what one number do they share?

Watch for

As the sample grows, shrinks, and is sawn in half, which number refuses to change.

What the symbols mean

ρ = m/V, measured in kg/m³; both samples are labeled with the same density in the accent color.

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