Unit 3, Lessons 2 and 3

Lesson two explained to us the proportionality between volume and height for different containers. In a container with a base shaped similar to the top, with parallel sides, volume and height are exactly proportional. If you change the size of your container, your height might change, but your volume won't. Lesson 3 gave us a more in-depth look at this. We learned the densities of rain and snow, which are as follows:

Rain - D = 1 g/mL

Snow - D = 0.5 g/mL

This occurs because snow is lighter, fluffier if you will, than liquid rain when you put it in a container. If you were to watch snow melt (wouldn't that be exciting) you'd have the same density as rain. 

Certain formulas come in handy when you're trying to figure out mass, density, and volume. They are as follows:

Volume: V= M/D

Density: D= M/V

Mass:  M= V x D

Lesson 2 Problems:

2.) Explain in your own words why meteorologists prefer to measure rain in inches or centimeters, not in milliliters or cubic centimeters. Meteorologists prefer to measure rain in inches or centimeters as opposed to milliliters or cubic centimeters because the last two units typically refer to volume, which can fluctuate depending on what type of container liquid is being kept in. Height, on the other hand, which is measure in inches or centimeters, does not depend on the diameter of a rain gauge or other container.

5.) If a large washtub, a dog's water dish, and a graduated cylinder were left outside during a rainstorm, would the three containers have the same volume of water in them after the storm? Explain why or why not. The three containers would not have the same volume of water in them after the rainstorm. While they all probably have circular bases and parallel walls, the base of the washtub is most certainly larger in diameter than that of the graduated cylinder, and the water dish falls between those two. Since volume is related to diameter and fluctuates based on the amount of space needed to be filled, the three containers might not collect the same volume. (I'm prepared for this answer to be terribly wrong.)

Lesson 3 Problems:

3.) How are snow and ice different? While they're both made of water, snow is often times fluffier and lighter than ice. Because snow crystals are like ice that's been shredded up, they have a lower density than solid ice, which you can hold in chunks in your hand. You can feel ice's weight. Density changes with physical changes, which means that the densities of liquid water, ice, and snow are all different.

8.) Suppose you have a box that is full and contains 500 grams of a substance.
A.) What is the volume of the box if the substance inside is corn oil? (The density of corn oil is 0.92 g/mL)

V = M/D

V = 500/0.92

V = 543. 47

The volume of your box is most likely about 543 mL.