GRAND RAPIDS — What is density? Why is it important to us? In a previous experiment we learned about buoyancy with an orange sinking or floating and now we are going to learn about density with an egg sinking or floating. Lets get started!
What you need:
- 2 eggs
- 2 clear glasses
- Salt
- Water
Step 1: Fill both glasses ¾ of the way full with water
Step 2: Add 5-6 tablespoons of salt into one glass of water and stir until combined
Step 3: Slowly place an egg in each glass
Step 4: Watch what happens!
One egg floats and one egg sinks! The egg will sink in regular tap water because the density of the water is less than the density of the egg itself. When you add salt to the water it increases the water’s density making it more dense than the egg therefore the egg floats in salt water!
Density describes how much space an object or substance takes up in relation to the amount of matter in that object or substance. It’s the objects volume in relation to its mass. Another way to put it is the amount of mass per unit of volume. If an object is heavy and compact it will have a high density.
Density is important because it effects whether objects will float or sink. Our weather depends on density too! Air density is based on the number of air molecules in a given area. A higher number of molecules equals denser air. It is also related to temperatures….the higher the temperatures the less dense the air. The changes in our temperatures from hot to cold within the air in our atmosphere causes winds which then help create high and low pressure areas.
There you have it, we learned how much density impacts our weather!
Send our meteorologist Candace Monacelli your pictures doing this experiments at home! She will feature future meteorologists on my Facebook page daily!
