Beakers, Bunsen burners, electronic balances, and graduated cylinders. All are items used in science teacher Christina Sladek’s ninth-hour chemistry class, which completed a lab on Sept. 18 on density.

When walking in, Sladek was passing out the worksheets to the students so they could record their lab. All the students were paying attention to how they should measure the densities and what they should use to measure those densities. After the quick intro the students were ready to start their lab and started getting up to get their equipment.

Sladek projected instructions on the screen on how to measure the displacement of water by measuring how much water there is in a cylinder, and then how much water there would be after putting an object into the cylinder.

Safety first! Students had to get safety goggles for their protection; even though the lab is not dangerous, it is a good habit to get into.

After students got their safety goggles, they went to the cart to get the cylinders and tiny cubes made from assorted materials to start their lab.

Students need their electronic balance to measure how much the different objects weigh. Using the electric balance is an important skill to know because it is a very common piece of equipment, and is used multiple times a month.

Students recorded the masses of their objects on the lab worksheets as they worked through the lab.

Sladek assisted confused students who were unable to calculate the water displacement in the graduated cylinder.

By measuring how much water there was in the cylinder before an object was added, students were able to calculate the volume of the object that they would put into the cylinder by measuring the increase in height of the water line.

At the end of the lab, Sladek’s students used calculators to obtain the densities of all of their objects by dividing the mass by the volume and reporting it on their papers.