Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Ocean Water: Density

For Teachers 11th - 12th
In this lesson students will learn about the stratification of the ocean by using a simulation to show the different densities. The simulation explores how temperature, salinity, and wind affect the development of water stratification.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Density Column Lab Part 2

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Concluding a two-part lab activity, students use triple balance beams and graduated cylinders to take measurements and calculate densities of several household liquids and compare them to the densities of irregularly shaped objects (as...
Handout
University of California

University of California: Seawater Density & Salinity [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Describes the properties of seawater and the variations depending on its location, e.g., near a shoreline, in an estuary, or as sea ice. Discusses the instruments scientists use to measure the density of water and explains other...
Activity
Middle School Science

Mss: Density Demonstration: Coke vs. Diet Coke

For Teachers 6th - 8th
In this demonstration, students will brainstorm to find a solution as to why Diet Coke floats and Coke sinks. Through this exercise students will arrive at a definition of density.
Website
US Navy

Office of Naval Research: Ocean Water

For Students 9th - 10th
This highly informative site delves into salinity, pressure, density, temperature acoustics, and optics associated with ocean water. A quick quiz follows the information presented.
Interactive
Other

Sim Bucket: Density Lab

For Students 9th - 10th
Use water displacement and a mass balance to determine the density of various objects in this interactive simulation.
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: Density Lab

For Students 9th - 10th
Use water displacement and a mass balance to determine the density of various objects in this interactive simulation.
Unit Plan
Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution

Woods Hole Oceanography Institute: Activity: Demo for Density

For Students 9th - 10th
In this experiment, students look at Deep Hypersaline Anoxic Basins, or DHABs, that are present in the Eastern Mediterranean, and make a model of a DHAB to investigate how liquids that have different densities can form layers. This...
Lesson Plan
Climate Literacy

Clean: What Happens to Ice in Water?

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Students investigate the properties of water in the ice and liquid phase as it relates to convection in the ocean and density driven circulation, and ultimately the climate.
Activity
University of Chicago

Center for Astrophysical Research in Antarctica: Don't Be Too Flaky

For Students 3rd - 8th
After reading some facts about the properties of water, students conduct experiments to measure the relative densities of water, ice and snow and submit the results to the website.
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Mn Step: Sinking and Floating Water

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
An experiment in density where colored water, both hot and cold, are poured into containers of water at room temperature. Students will observe that the warm water rises and the cold water sinks due to their different densities.
Activity
Utah Education Network

Uen: Matter: I Love Density

For Students 5th - 8th
Directions for a lab that compares the density of a marble, wood, water and two different types of candy bars.
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Determining Densities

For Teachers 6th - 9th
Students will use two different methods to determine the densities of a variety of materials and objects. The first method involves direct measurement of the volumes of objects that have simple geometric shapes, while the second uses the...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Density Column Lab Part 1

For Teachers 7th - 9th
In this first part of a two-part lab activity, students use triple balance beams and graduated cylinders to take measurements and calculate the densities of several common, irregularly shaped objects with the purpose to resolve confusion...
Activity
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: States of Matter

For Teachers 3rd - 4th
Students act as chemical engineers and use LEGO MINDSTORMS NXT robotics to record temperatures and learn about the three states of matter. Properties of matter can be measured in various ways, including volume, mass, density and...
Lesson Plan
Science Education Resource Center at Carleton College

Serc: Mn Step: Sinking Water: Glaciers, Ocean Currents and Weather Patterns

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
A lesson where students learn how warm water is less dense than cold water, and what this means for global climate change as ice from the polar regions melts. Students will do experiments in buoyancy and water density when hot or cold,...
Activity
American Chemical Society

Inquiry in Action: Defining Density

For Teachers 3rd - 8th
Do heavy things always sink and light things always float? In this introductory demonstration and activity, students are introduced to the concept of density as they explore a rock and a wooden block in water.
Lesson Plan
American Chemical Society

Middle School Chemistry: Finding Volume: Water Displacement Method

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Learners use the water-displacement method to find the volume of different rods that all have the same mass.
Activity
University of Colorado

University of Colorado: Ph Et Interactive Simulations: Under Pressure

For Students 9th - 10th
An interactive simulation that teaches about pressure, fluids, and density by observing changes in pressure under and above water with changes in variables including fluids, gravity, container shapes, and volume. This simulation can...
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Environmental Engineering and Water Chemistry

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Students are introduced to the fundamentals of environmental engineering as well as the global air, land and water quality concerns facing today's environmental engineers. After a lesson and activity to introduce environmental...
Lesson Plan
Science and Mathematics Initiative for Learning Enhancement (SMILE)

Smile: Comparing Liquid Density

For Teachers 3rd - 5th
Because different liquids have different properties, density also differs. In this lesson from the Illinois Institute of Technology, young scholars will calculate densities of water, dish-washing detergent, cooking oil, and other liquids.
Activity
Other

Lapeer County Schools Science Resources: Density Lab

For Students 9th - 10th
A simple lab experiment for students to find the density of two solids and a liquid (does not use water displacement). Note that number 1d should not state "weighs" since mass is being found.
Handout
Science Struck

Science Struck: How to Find Volume With Water Displacement Method

For Students 4th - 8th
Tells the story of how Archimedes discovered the Archimedes Principle and his water displacement method for determining the volume and density of an object. Provides an explanation and several examples of how it is done.
Unit Plan
TeachEngineering

Teach Engineering: Floaters and Sinkers

For Teachers 7th - 9th
Through this curricular unit, students are introduced to the important concept of density. The focus is on the more easily understood densities of solids, but students may also explore the densities of liquids and gases. Students devise...