Science Questions

In science class, my classmates and I made and used a homemade balance and tested it to see if it could compare to the likes of digital balances or triple beam balances which are typically known for being more efficient. Here are two interesting questions.

1. What is the fundamental concept about the metric system that makes it possible to measure the mass of an unknown object with water?

The concept is simple if you think about it the right way. All you have to do is get the water to weigh the same as the object you’re weighing. For example if the object you’re weighing is 100 grams, the amount of water that equals 100 grams should be 100 mL. This shows that 100 mL weighs about 100 grams.

2. Any balance or scale has a maximum amount of mass it can measure. What is the maximum mass that your homemade water balance can measure?  Explain.   

The homemade water balance has the object you are weighing on one end and a bottle of which you can fill to equal the object's mass. The water balance's maximum amount of mass is until the water fills the entire bottle. This is because if I filled the water bottle any higher, it would overflow and would not be able to equal the object's mass.