A student’s laboratory report on a metallic alloy lists its density as “ .” A peer…
PHYSICS · Multi-part · CBSE · Physics · Units and Measurements · Units and Measurements
Problem
A student’s laboratory report on a metallic alloy lists its density as “7.8kgcm−3.” A peer reviewer suspects that the units are inconsistent with standard conventions for density reporting.
Respond to the prompts that follow.
(1) Part 1: (a) Identify the inconsistency in the reported units and state an appropriate SI unit for density.
(2) Part 2: (b) Explain, without performing a numerical calculation, how the numerical value of 7.8 would change (increase, decrease, or remain the same) when the density is expressed in the SI unit you stated in part (a). Justify your answer qualitatively using reasoning about unit size.
(3) Part 3: (c) Describe a systematic procedure you would follow to convert a density expressed in kgcm−3 to the correct SI unit, citing all intermediate units that would appear in your chain of reasoning.