Table of Contents
How might water have two different densities?
Water can have two different densities if it has substances dissolved in it. When liquid water freezes it becomes solid water or ice, which is less dense than liquid water. The fact that solid water (ice) is less dense than liquid water is evident in the way ice floats in a glass of water.
What causes water to have different densities?
Variation in density Seawater density varies from place to place because it is affected by salinity and temperature. High temperature makes water less dense. As water gets warmer, its molecules spread out, so it becomes less dense. As it gets colder, it becomes denser.
How do different substances have different densities?
The mass of atoms, their size, and how they are arranged determine the density of a substance. Density equals the mass of the substance divided by its volume; D = m/v. Objects with the same volume but different mass have different densities.
How is water different from other liquids in density?
Water molecules are made up of oxygen and hydrogen atoms bonded together. Oxygen is heavier and smaller than carbon, so a volume of water molecules is heavier than the same volume of oil molecules. This makes water more dense than oil. Also, water molecules are very attracted to each other and pack very close together.
Is water the only substance that is less dense as a solid?
Water is one of the few substances on Earth that is less dense as a solid than a liquid. As ice, water molecules form four hydrogen bonds that lock them into a rigid crystalline structure. In this state, the water molecules are actually further apart than when they are in a liquid state.
Does liquid water have a constant density?
Tell students that density is a characteristic property of a substance. This means that the density of a substance is the same regardless of the size of the sample. Density is a characteristic property of water because the density of any sample of water (at the same temperature) is always the same.
What does it mean when a substance is denser compared to other substance?
density
The density is characteristic for each individual compound and defined as the mass of a compound divided by its volume. In other words, the more matter there is in a certain amount of volume, the denser a substance is. This is because there is much more matter in the same volume of rock compared with the wood.
How does density work in water?
Just like a solid, the density of a liquid equals the mass of the liquid divided by its volume; D = m/v. The density of water is 1 gram per cubic centimeter. The density of a substance is the same regardless of the size of the sample.
Which substances have less density than water?
In practical terms, density is the weight of a substance for a specific volume. The density of water is roughly 1 gram per milliliter but, this changes with temperature or if there are substances dissolved in it. Ice is less dense than liquid water which is why your ice cubes float in your glass.