Name: Jakob Evangelista

Class: AP Physics II
Period: 2
Group #: 1
Lab # and Title: 1 – Mass vs. Volume
Laboratory Report
Purpose
The lab we are conducting sets out to identify a relationship between mass and volume. We will measure
the mass of different weights of the same material and measure the volume of the different objects in
order to see if there is any correlation between mass and volume. At the end of the lab, we should be
able to answer this question: what is the relationship between mass and volume?
Equipment Used
Graduated cylinder, Triple Beam Balance, clay (playdough is acceptable), water
Procedure
1. Fill a graduated cylinder with 30 mL of water.
2. With the piece of clay found on the lab table, place it on the triple beam balance and record its mass in
units of grams in the data table under mass.

3. Place the piece of clay in the graduated cylinder. Make sure you avoid
splashes when dropping the clay or else your results will not be accurate.
4. Measure the final amount of water in the graduated cylinder and subtract 30
mL (the initial water amount) from the final amount. Record this value in mL in the data table under
volume.
5. Take the clay piece out of the graduated cylinder and dump out the water into the sink. Make sure to
squeeze the clay to prevent the presence of air bubbles.
 6. Break the clay piece into 5 unequal pieces (should have different masses). Use these pieces to repeat
steps 1-4.

Data

Mass vs. Volume

Mass (g) Volume 30
(mL)
y = 2.2665x - 0.3496
25 R² = 0.9691
25.3 10.2
11.8 5.4 20

5.0 1.9
Mass (g)

15

9.7 5.1 10
3.1 1.6
5
17.9 9.0
0
0 0 0 2 4 6 8 10 12 14
-5
Volume (mL)

Conclusion
We can conlude, based on the data we collected, that there is a direct relationship between mass and
volume. When you divide mass by volume, it creates a linear graph with a slope of 2.2665 and a r-
squared value of .9691. According to the graph, the slope shows that the mass of an object is a little over
twice its volume. Since the r-squared value is close to 1, we can assume that the relationship between is
mass and volume is direct. Our r-squared value probably did not equal one because we have minor
errors, like any other experiment. For example, the air bubbles in the clay affected the volume
measurements which caused two different masses of clay to have the same volume. We tried to
minimize the error by squeezing the clay as hard as we could to get rid of all air bubbles as said in step
5. Another error that anyone can encounter in every experiment is the iaccuracy of measurement
materials. No measuring device is perfect, but we minimized it by using more significant figures in our
measurements.