ATOMIC WEIGHT

HYPOTHESIS

How does atomic weight relate to the weight you can measure on a scale?

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MATERIALS & EQUIPMENT

4 sizes of nuts:
12 small nuts
1 each of other sizes of nuts
scale
calculator

LAB SAFETY AND PROTOCOL

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PROCEDURE

Trace each of the nuts below and label them A through D with A being the smallest and D the largest.

Weigh each nut and record the weights. Remember to record the units you used.
Let's say that we don't care what the actual weight of a nut is but we do care what the weight of one size of nut is relative to another. We will arbitrarily select nut size A as our reference. This means that A will have a relative weight of 1.
Figure out the relative weights for the other nuts by answering these questions:
One type B nut weighs as much as ______ type A nuts.

One type C nut weighs as much as ______ type A nuts.

One type D nut weighs as much as ______ type A nuts.
Record your answers in the table.
Test your answers with a balance.

CONCLUSION

Although now the periodic table is based on carbon, originally it was based on hydrogen. This meant that hydrogen had an atomic weight of 1. Oxygen had an atomic weight of 16 so one atom of oxygen weighs _____ times as much as one atom of hydrogen.

CHALLENGE

What rule did you use in step 4 to convert actual weight to atomic weight?

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