Name:_________________________________________
Lab Report Prewriting Assignment
Title: Mystery Metal
Introduction
Why did we do this lab? (What did we want to show or prove?)
The purpose of this lab was to identify unknown metals by comparing their experimentally
determined densities to a table of known density values for metals along with other physical
properties.
What technique was used to perform the experiment?
The density of each metal was calculated using the density equation density=mass/volume.
The mass of each sample was found using a balance. The volume was found using water
displacement method.
What do we need to know about in order to understand this lab?
Each type of matter has its own unique set of properties. These properties can be used to
identify an unknown sample of matter. Density is a physical property of matter. Physical
properties are characteristics that can be observed without changing the identity of the
object. The density equation, density=mass/volume, can be used to calculate the density of
an object using experimental data.
Hypothesis
What do you think will happen?
I expect to identify metal __ as ______ with a density of ______ and metal __ as _______
with a density of _____.
Procedure
Stepwise directions (Past tense with no personal pronouns in paragraph form)
Results
Titles and numbers of tables and figures to be included in your report
Table 3.1: Observations of Metals __ and __
Summarize overall results in sentence form
Table 3.1 contains the physical properties observed for both metals __ and __, including
the densities, which was _____ for metal __ and ____ for metal __.
Conclusion
Describe the data collected
Metal __ is a brown, smooth, shiny solid. The mass of metal __ was found to be 62.4 grams.
The volume was 7 mL. The density was calculated using the density equation and found to
be 8.9 g/mL. I determined metal __ is _________.
Write a similar paragraph for your second metal.
Explain what the data tells you (Does it support or refute your hypothesis)
When I compared these calculated densities to the table of Densities of Common Metals,
the closest value to the density I found for metal __ was 8.92 g/mL, the accepted density
value of copper. Metal was shiny, smooth and had a brownish color. Based on the density
and physical observations, I determined metal __ is copper. This refutes my hypothesis
because I had stated the metal was brass. (or This proves my hypothesis because I had
stated the metal would be copper.)
Similar paragraph for your second metal
What, if anything, went wrong in this experiment? How might you improve this experiment?
The calculated density values did not exactly match up with the values from the table. The
calculated values were based on data collected in the lab. If we did not read the graduated
cylinder correctly, the values we collected for the volume may not be completely accurate.
This would cause the calculated values to be off a bit. Our results might improve if we read
our instruments more carefully.