Lab 1B: Aluminum Foil Lab

The purpose of the Aluminum Foil Lab was to create a procedure that could be used to determine the thickness/height of the aluminum foil in millimeters. In order to find the thickness, which is a key part in the volume (volume = l*w*h), the known value of density of aluminum was used, along with the measured mass. The length and width were estimated using a ruler. 

Procedure: 

1. In order to find the mass, we used the scale, and found that the mass of the aluminum foil was 0.42 grams. 
2. To find the length and width, we measured two sides of the aluminum foil and found the length to be 11.05 cm and the width to be 11.55 cm.
3. We labeled the variable for height "h" and multiplied the known length and width in order to find a value for volume: 11.05cm*11.55cm*h = 127.628h => 127.6h (four significant figures). 
4. Since we found the density of aluminum to be 2.73 g/cm^3 in a previous lab, we plugged in our density, volume, and mass into the equation density = mass/volume. 
5. 2.73 g/cm^3 = 0.42g/127.6h
6. We solved for h and got that the height, or thickness, of the aluminum foil was .001176 cm, or .011755 mm, which was rounded to .012 mm because of the two significant figures in the equation.

Data:

• Aluminum Foil
• mass: 0.42 g
• density: 2.73 g/cm^3
• volume
• length: 11.05 cm
• width: 11.55 cm 
• height/thickness: .012 cm