A student measures the mass of a rock in grams and its volume in cubic centimeters. Which unit and calculation yield the rock's density?

Study for the North Carolina Grade 8 End-of-Grade Science Test. Prepare with multiple choice questions, each question has hints and explanations. Ace your exam!

Multiple Choice

A student measures the mass of a rock in grams and its volume in cubic centimeters. Which unit and calculation yield the rock's density?

Explanation:
Density is mass per volume, so you’re looking for mass divided by volume. With mass measured in grams and volume in cubic centimeters, the appropriate unit is grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm^3). Calculating density this way gives you density in g/cm^3. If you converted to SI units, you’d use kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m^3), since 1 g/cm^3 equals 1000 kg/m^3, but the measurements given are grams and cm^3, so the natural result is mass divided by volume in g/cm^3. The other option that uses volume divided by mass would give the reciprocal of density, not density, and the kilograms per cubic meter unit would require converting the measurements first.

Density is mass per volume, so you’re looking for mass divided by volume. With mass measured in grams and volume in cubic centimeters, the appropriate unit is grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm^3). Calculating density this way gives you density in g/cm^3. If you converted to SI units, you’d use kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m^3), since 1 g/cm^3 equals 1000 kg/m^3, but the measurements given are grams and cm^3, so the natural result is mass divided by volume in g/cm^3. The other option that uses volume divided by mass would give the reciprocal of density, not density, and the kilograms per cubic meter unit would require converting the measurements first.

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