Mass Detectives
A student carries a small box of pencils and wants to find out how much material is in the box. Which property should the student measure?
Mass
A teacher wants students to weigh a large box that cannot easily fit on a small pan. Which laboratory balance would be most appropriate?
Platform balance
A student wants to determine the volume of a cube. The cube has sides measuring 2 cm each. What should the student do?
Multiply 2 × 2 × 2.
A student notices that a plant near a window grows differently from a plant in a darker area. She asks, “Does the amount of sunlight affect plant growth?” Which step has she completed?
Identifying the problem/question
A student wants to test whether hot or cold water dissolves sugar faster. She uses the same amount of sugar in both containers. Why is keeping the amount of sugar the same important?
It makes the comparison fair.
Lara measures a bag of rice at home. Her friend says the rice would have a different mass if Lara took it to another location. Who is correct, and why?
Lara is correct because mass remains the same regardless of location.
During an activity, Miguel sees a balance with three beams containing sliding weights. What type of balance is he most likely using?
Triple beam balance
A rectangular box has a length of 5 cm, a width of 3 cm, and a height of 2 cm. What is its volume?
30 cm³
Before beginning an investigation, Paolo writes:
“If a plant receives more sunlight, then it will grow taller.”
What part of the investigation is Paolo writing?
Hypothesis
Two students investigate sugar dissolving. One uses a large glass of hot water and a small cup of cold water. Their teacher tells them to repeat the investigation. What should they change?
They should use the same amount of water in both containers.
A laboratory has two objects. Object A has a mass of 750 g, while Object B has a mass of 1 kg. Which object has greater mass?
Object B
A student needs to measure a relatively small object's mass using a laboratory balance. The balance has two parallel horizontal beams and sliding counterweights. Which balance is being used?
Double beam balance
Two students measure two boxes.
Which box has the greater volume?
Box A, with 32 cm³. Box B has 30 cm³.
A group wants to investigate whether the temperature of water affects how quickly sugar dissolves. They gather sugar, water, spoons, and two containers before starting. Which step are they completing?
Listing/preparing the materials
A group performs an experiment but forgets to record what happens during the test. When they finish, they cannot remember which sample dissolved faster. Which part of their investigation caused the problem?
They failed to properly record their observations/results.
A teacher gives a group a box that contains several small objects. The total mass is 2 kg. The students need to report the mass in grams. What should they report?
2,000 g
A student is using a triple beam balance. The three beams can measure up to 10 g, 500 g, and 100 g, respectively. Why is it useful to have three beams instead of only one?
The three beams allow the student to combine different weight ranges to obtain a more accurate total mass.
A student measures a rectangular container and records these dimensions: 6 cm long, 4 cm wide, and 3 cm high. Another student calculates its volume as 13 cm³. What mistake did the student most likely make?
The student did not correctly multiply the three dimensions. The correct volume is 72 cm³.
After conducting an investigation, a group discovers that the sugar dissolved faster in hot water than in cold water. They compare the results with their prediction before deciding what they learned. Which step are they working on?
Drawing the conclusion
A student says, “My hypothesis was wrong, so my experiment was a failure.” Another student disagrees. Who has the better scientific reasoning?
The second student. An investigation can still be successful even if the hypothesis is not supported because the results provide new information.
Two identical-looking containers are placed on a balance. Container A has a mass of 1.5 kg, while Container B has a mass of 1,200 g. A student claims that Container B is heavier because its measurement is written in grams. How would you correct the student's reasoning?
Container A is heavier because 1.5 kg = 1,500 g, which is greater than 1,200 g. The unit used does not determine which object has greater mass.
A student places an object on a triple beam balance and adjusts the sliding weights. The readings are 7 g on the first beam, 300 g on the second beam, and 80 g on the third beam. What is the object's total mass?
387 g
A student wants to build a rectangular storage box with a volume of 60 cm³. The box is 5 cm long and 3 cm wide. What height should the student make the box?
4 cm, because 5 × 3 × 4 = 60 cm³.
A group predicts that salt will dissolve faster in cold water. After conducting the experiment several times, their results consistently show that salt dissolves faster in hot water. What should the group do?
They should reject or not support their original hypothesis, report their actual results, and use the findings to develop a new hypothesis or investigation.
A group investigates whether temperature affects how quickly sugar dissolves. They use hot and cold water but accidentally use two spoonfuls of sugar in the hot water and one spoonful in the cold water. Their results show that the hot-water sample dissolves faster. Can they confidently conclude that temperature caused the difference? Explain.
No. The experiment was not a fair test because different amounts of sugar were used. The group should repeat the investigation using the same amount of sugar in both samples.