Mercury, a metal that is liquid at room temperature, has a density 13.5 times the density of water. How many pennies could your boat hold if we were floating it in mercury instead of water?

How big is the boat?

That's the question, it doesn't give any more info. Here is the info:

Density of water is 1.o g/cm3
Mass of a penny is 2.5 grams

I have no idea. Sorry.

To determine how many pennies your boat could hold if floating in mercury instead of water, we need to compare the densities of both substances.

Given that the density of mercury is 13.5 times that of water, we can use this ratio to find the number of pennies. Let's break it down step by step:

1. Determine the density of water: The density of water is around 1 gram per cubic centimeter (g/cm³) or 1000 kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m³).

2. Calculate the density of mercury: Since the density of mercury is 13.5 times that of water, we multiply the density of water by 13.5 to get the density of mercury. Therefore, the density of mercury is approximately 13.5 g/cm³ or 13500 kg/m³.

3. Determine the volume of each penny: To do so, you can measure the height, diameter, and thickness of a penny and use these measurements to calculate its volume. Assuming the average volume of a penny is 0.36 cm³ or 0.00036 m³.

4. Divide the density of mercury by the volume of a penny: Since density is mass divided by volume, we can rearrange the equation to find the volume. Divide the density of mercury (in kg/m³) by the volume of a penny (in m³) to get the mass of mercury that each penny could displace.

5. Calculate the number of pennies by dividing the mass of mercury the boat could hold by the mass of mercury displaced by each penny: Divide the maximum mass that your boat could hold (assuming it floats) by the mass of mercury displaced by each penny.

Remember, these calculations assume that the pennies are packed closely together with no spaces between them.

Now, take the given information and apply the steps outlined above to find the number of pennies your boat could hold if floating in mercury instead of water.