Lab - Thickness Of Aluminum Foil

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In this lab, you will be determining the thickness (Th) of a piece of Aluminum foil (we sometimes call it Tin foil). Two pieces of information you will need and may not know:
1) Aluminum has a density of 2.70g/cm³ (D_Al=2.70g/cm³).

2) The equation for density (D_Al) is D = M/V where M-mass(g) and V-Volume(cm³)

3) The equation for the volume (V) of rectangular solid is V = (L)(W)(Th) where L-length (cm), W-width (cm), and Th-thickness (cm).

Directions

1) Obtain a piece of Aluminum foil and a ruler (measures in cm).

2) With the ruler, measure the length (L) of the piece of foil. Note, the foil may not be a "perfect rectangle" so you may have to assume that it is. Record length in your data table.

3) Repeat Step 2 for the width (W) of the piece of foil. Record width in your data table.

4) Obtain a balance (either Cent-O-gram or electronic) and zero out (tare in electronic) the balance before starting to measure the mass (M) of the Aluminum foil. Record the mass (in grams, g) in your data table.

Data Table
Note: Most times you will make your own data table but here you will be provided one.

a) Length of piece: _________________cm

b) Width of piece: __________________cm

c) Mass of piece: ____________________g

Calculations (completed in a separate location than below)

1) By Equation. You will use both above equations.
a) You will find the Volume (V) of the foil using the Density equation. (Remember, need to modify equation above so that volume (V) of foil is on one side of equation and all other variable are on opposite side before you plug in numbers). Keep that calculated value with one more sig figs (N+1) than you need in answers.

b)You will find the thickness (Th) of the foil by using the Volume equation for a solid rectangular. (Remember, need to modify equation above so that thickness (Th) of foil is on one side of equation and all other variable are on opposite side before you plug in numbers).

2) By Dimensional analysis Using the information in Data table and your knowledge of DA, show all work on determining the thickness (Th) of the foil. Remember, you only do "one" DA "string" to determine Thickness.

Questions/problems

1) Print out (unless it is handed out already) Question for Thickness of Aluminum Foil Lab.
Remember, you need to provide a paraphrased version before answering questions.

CP Chem329 Questions

1) Why couldn't you use a centimeter ruler to measure the thickness of the aluminum foil?

2) What would you say to a person that recorded the length of her aluminum foil as 3.4575cm after measuring with a ruler marked to the nearest millimeter (mm)?