Blog #2

Blog Post #2

This past week, we have recapped density, found the mass, volume, and density of a gas, and found the thickness of aluminum foil.  The main idea for this week was density and using our knowledge of density to find the density of a gas, and also finding the thickness of aluminum foil.  The most important part was the relationship between density, mass, and volume, and how you can use that relationship to find one of those measurements. But to find one of those measurements, you need two of the others to find it.  The activities we did this week were finding the density of a gas and finding the thickness of aluminum foil.  To find the density of a gas, we found the volume, the mass and then the density; for the thickness of aluminum foil, we had to find the density in order to get the thickness of the aluminum foil.
Here is a close representation of the lab we did.
One way we came to learn this week's ideas was by answering the question of the day each day, and doing the experiments.  Also, our review guide helped us refresh and enforce the main ideas from this week and last week.  One question I have is; Which measurement for volume is more accurate? Does it depend on the object?  Another question I have is; Why does the density of some objects, when shown on a graph, sometimes have a negative y-intercept?  My participation in the learning process this week was very good because I did every 'Question of the Day' and all the experiments.

I would rate my understanding of this week's ideas at a 9.5 because I feel confident for the test coming up.  I wouldn't put it at a 10 yet because I think there is a little doubt in my mind because of the 'finding the thickness of aluminum foil' lab.  I feel that I don't need to work on anything more because I feel pretty confident about my understanding of this week's ideas.  My ideas have changed in the sense that I can find the density pretty easy whether it is in a lab or with given measurements.  I don't have any new questions for this week.  But I have to start thinking about my measuring accuracy when it comes to finding density.

This week's ideas about density and its relationship to mass and volume haven't really added any confusion to my understanding.  It doesn't seem like a very confusing idea because it is pretty simple and is some simple math, which I understand fairly easily.  Another very important part of density is that it represents the slope on a graph in which the two axes are mass and volume.  That is important because it is a good way to see the relationship between mass and volume because it is visualized very well on a graph.