How do you find the volume of a ping pong ball?

Question

Okay, so I don't get how to find it. It doesn't make sense to me. If ping pong balls float then how do you find the volume of one when you are using water displacement?

Can you please explain it?

Answer 1

Well since a ping pong ball floats its not easy to find the volume from water displacement, it would be easier to find the radius of the ping pong ball and use the formula V=4/3 pi r^3



but if you had to use water displacement it would be advised to find an object like a rock that could keep the ping pong down, or some kind of anchor. If you have a container full of water in liters and you place the anchor in, place the ping pong ball down there and find the difference between the two liter amounts (one with the anchor in and then one with both the anchor and ping pong ball one)

Answer 2

You'd have to use a less dense liquid or manage to put something inside to make it sink.



Or you could use sand, there's probably lots of weighs to bypass the floating in water thing.



Otherwise just remember that a ping ball is a sphere. You can just use a ruler to get the radius.



The volume of a sphere is 4/3(pi)(radius)^3

Answer 3

I would think you'd have to have a way to sink it entirely under water. Something to hold it down. For instance, a heavy object which is already under water, that you put on top of the ping-pong ball.

Answer 4

easy: an object that sinks displaces an amount of fluid equal to the object's volume. in the case of an object that floats, like the ping-pong ball, the amount of fluid displaced will be equal in weight to the displacing object. weight = mass * gravity. so just divide by the gravitational constant and you have the mass of the ball. mass = 1/(density*volume)

Answer 5

Hold it under the water with a weight. Measure the total displacement. Then separately measure the displacement of the weight.