A geologist wanted to determine the density of an irregularly shaped mineral specimen.
Describe how the geologist could measure the volume of this irregular mineral specimen using standard laboratory apparatus.
The volume of the mineral specimen was measured as 16.0 cm316.0\text{ cm}^316.0 cm3.
The geologist measured the mass of the specimen as 84.0 g84.0\text{ g}84.0 g.
Calculate the density of the mineral specimen in g/cm3\text{g/cm}^3g/cm3.
Use the equation: density=massvolume\text{density} = \frac{\text{mass}}{\text{volume}}density=volumemass
Figure 1 shows the densities of different types of mineral specimens.
Based on your calculated density, what is the most likely mineral specimen that the geologist had? Select one option:
- Halite
- Quartz
- Fluorite
- Hematite
- Galena
Give one source of error that may have occurred when the geologist measured the volume of the mineral specimen.
How would the error you described in Part 4 affect the measured volume of the specimen?