Question

The solid is not completely submerged in the water. Will this technique error increase, decrease, or have no effect on the reported density of the solid?

Answer 1

The technique error of not fully submerging the solid will increase the reported density, as the volume of water displaced will be less than the solid's actual volume.

Step-by-step explanation:

If the solid is not completely submerged in the water, this wilgel increase the reported density of the solid. When using water displacement to measure the volume of a solid, it is critical that the solid is fully submerged to displace the correct volume. If the solid is not fully submerged, the volume of displaced water will be less than the actual volume of the solid, leading to an incorrect (higher) density calculation since density is the ratio of mass to volume. To accurately measure density using water displacement, we rely on the principle that a substance denser than water will sink and displace an amount of water equal to its volume. The fraction submerd directly relates to the object's density versus the fluid's density, as seen in experiments such as a cube of polystyrene that lies partially submerged in water.

Answer 2

This technique error will increase the reported density of the solid.

Since the solid isn't completely submerged in the water, the volume will be reported as less than it actually is. Since volume is inversely proportional to density (if one goes up the other goes down), the density will increase and be reported as more than it actually is.