Which is more dense?? MERCURY, LEAD, or TUNGSTEN

see if you can guess wich one is more dense out of MERCURY, TUNGSTEN, OR LEAD.
the least dense object will float, the most dense object will sink in the bath of mercury.

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[frostwarrior19892]

The surface of the "touching" area counts as well. Thats why an steel boat can float in water.

[Basco36]

Tungsten is natually heavier than lead in weight thoe

[nbaietti]

I dont think surface tension is a factor here, I believe that tungsten is actually denser anyway... cool...!

[sciencoking]

amazing to see lead floating o_O

[Daggawaggaboof]

oh wow a pool of mercury

[oracle2world]

Why the gloves? Stop being a p*.

[kevito666]

Moar fuel for the fire...

Densities near NIST STP:

lead = 11.34g/cc

mercury = 13.54g/cc

tungsten = 19.25g/cc

depleted uranium = 19.1g/cc

[c1h2a3d4b5e6e7m8a9n]

@frostwarrior19892 yes but the reason the metal boat can float is because there is air in the area of displaced water, if it was completely metal theres no way it would float.

[orion1077]

@Basco36

Volume...bouyancy is dependent on volume...THAT's why steel boats float.

In order for something to float on a liquid, the liquid needs to apply to that "something" a force greater(and opposite) than the "something's" weight.

This force is dependent on the volume on the "something" and the special gravity of the liquid...if i remember correctly.

[Ramos1990]

@fxtrader92 you are still wrong! unit volume depends on the crystal structure the element forms! That's the whole point I'm trying to make, lead forms a FCC crystal structure. volume is determined by how the metal atoms bond with each other and the radius of each atom. Tungsten forms a BCC crystal structure, leading to a closer packed crystal lattice. Did you even look up the densities of these elemental forms before commenting? Tungsten is 19.25 g/cc, lead is 11.34 g/cc, lead is not denser

[fxtrader92]

@Ramos1990 You're wrong. You even prove my point in your statement. Density is mass per unit volume. That was my point. UNIT VOLUME is constant.

And so you're saying Tungsten is more dense than Lead? You can measure all the electron interactions all you want and in a million years Lead will always be more dense in every measurement.

[Ramos1990]

@fxtrader92 Wrong! Atomic weight is only half of what you use to determine density, electron interaction is how we determine volume. For example, lets take carbon, atomic weight of around 12.01 g/mol. What is the density of carbon? If what you say is true then it should always be the same, irrelevent of how its electron interact. Graphitic carbon has a density 2.267 g/cc, while diamond carbon is around 3.515 g/cc. The electron interaction determines crystal structure and therefore the volume!

[Ramos1990]

@frostwarrior19892 no you're wrong here. A steel boat floats in water because of Archimedes' Principle. The weight of the displaced water is equivalent to the weight of the boat. In essence, If you take the entire boat and measured its volume and mass and get a boat "density" it will still be less dense than water. Buoyant forces always depend on fluid density and the average density of whatever is being submerged.

[fxtrader92]

@1039smoothslaphours Technically, density is mass per unit volume so you should use the atomic weight to determine which is denser. The interaction of electrons does not affect the mass and is therefore irrelevant.

A quick look at the periodic chart is all that is needed to know which is the most dense.