4 N OTES

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T IVI EACHE
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PLANET DENSITY
Students use iron and sand to model the composition of the Earth and estimate
what fraction of the Earth is occupied by its iron core.

Apparatus and Materials The practical activity

(per group of 2 to 4 students) You could introduce the activity by showing a steel ball
(to represent the Earth’s core) and some Plasticine.
• Balance Discuss their different densities. Explain how to calculate
• Measuring cylinder density and introduce units. (For ease of calculation g/cm3
rather than kg/m3 are used throughout this activity).
• Steal ball bearing or steel block approx.. Wrap a layer of Plasticine around the ball to represent the
2 or 3 cm across
mantle and crust. What can be said about the average
• Sand density? (It must be between that of steel – 7.9 g/cm3 and
that of Plasticine – 1.9 g/cm3.)
Each student will also require a photocopy of the
instructions and worksheet (pages 16 and 17 respectively). (You could measure mass and volume of the ball +
Plasticine by immersing the ball in water in a measuring
Health & Safety and Technical Notes cylinder on a balance and then add increasing amounts of
Plasticine. However, sand is a better material to represent
If using ball bearings, remind students that if any fall on the
rock as its density is closer to that of the rock found on the
floor they must be picked up promptly so that so no-one
Earth’s surface.)
slips on them. Give each group a dish to keep them in.
A little bit of tissue paper on the balance will stop them A blank table for tabulating results and calculations is
rolling off. provided on the worksheet. Alternatively students can use
a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet for processing data. Remind
Learning objectives them that before taking readings for the sand-steel mixture
After completing this activity, students should be able to: they should place the measuring cylinder on the balance
and zero it.
• measure mass and volume. They should find that the average density decreases from
that of steel as more sand is added. Typical results are
• calculate density from mass and volume. shown in figure 4a. The equation for calculating the steel-
• understand that planets can be classified according to percentage by volume is provided on the worksheet and a
their densities. graph of density against percentage provides a straight line
from which the percentage that gives a density of 5.5 g/cm3
Introducing the activity can be read (see figure 4b). They should get an answer of
Introduce the idea of an exoplanet and explain why they are between 50-60%.
difficult to observe. (They are very distant and much smaller After the activity you may want to discuss the composition
than stars, and they are not sources of light.) of the Earth (figure 4c). Explain that although the crust is
Explain that astronomers can determine the radius and of a similar density to sand, the rock in the mantle has
mass of an exoplanet, and hence deduce its density. By a higher density (between 3 and 6 g/cm3). What does
comparing an exoplanet’s size and density with that of the this imply about the size of the core? Will it be bigger or
Earth and other planets, they hope to find Earth-like planets smaller than their estimate? (They should conclude that
orbiting other stars. their estimate provides a maximum size for the core; the
actual volume will be lower). There is also the additional
Explain that the Earth is made of two materials: the dense complication that the iron in the core is denser than the
iron core and the less dense outer rocky region (mantle steel they have used in their model.
and crust). Its average density is between the densities of
iron and rock. They are going to use a simplified model to
estimate what fraction of the Earth is iron (by volume).
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 EX PLANET
PHYSICS

About planetary densities It is harder to find the mass and radius of an exoplanet.
The radius can be found from the transit light curve –
For the Solar System, the masses of planets can be deduced the initial dip takes longer for a bigger exoplanet (see teacher
from the orbital speeds of their moons – a moon orbiting notes for activity 1). The mass can be found from the wobble
a massive planet has to orbit quickly to avoid being pulled of the parent star as the exoplanet orbits it – the star moves in
in by its strong gravity. Their radii can be measured from a small circle and this can be detected from the Doppler shift
photographs taken using telescopes, or by observing them in its light.
transiting across distant stars.
The chart on the student instructions shows how we can
divide them into the higher density rocky planets and the
lower density gas giants. (The gases are, of course, frozen.) Taking it further
Astronomers would like to find examples of Earth-like Students can research the densities of some known
exoplanets. They can then concentrate their efforts on trying exoplanets and identify ones that have similar densities
to discover whether they may have signs of life such as to Earth.
atmospheres containing oxygen and methane.
Figure 4a – Typical results

A AB C D E F
1 Volume of steel Total mass (g) Volume of sand Total volume Steel Average
(cm3) (sand + steel )
(cm3) (cm3) percentage by density (g/cm3)
(sand + steel )
Volume
2 7.6 60.1 0 7.6 100 % 7.9
3 87.6 11 18.6 41 % 4.7
4 110.1 20 28.6 27 % 3.9
5 130.1 28 35.6 21 % 3.7
6 160.1 40 47.6 16 % 3.4
7 182.6 49 56.6 13 % 3.2

Figure 4b – Average density against steel percentage. The Figure 4c – Layers of the Earth, their approximate densities
percentage that gives a density equal to that of the Earth and composition. Density depends on depth as well as
(5.5 g/cm3) can be read from the graph. composition. For example, the iron core’s density increases
from around 10 g/cm3 (at its outer edge) to around 13 g/
9 cm3 (at its centre).
8 3

7 Crust
(low density rock)

6
Average density (g/cm3)

Density (g/cm3)

5 5

4 Mantle
(high density rock)
10
3
2
Core
1 (iron)

0 13
0% 20% 40% 60% 80% 100% 10-70 2900 6400
Steel percentage (by volume) Depth below surface (km)

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 S
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C T I ON
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C T IV I N S T R U
A

EX PLANET
PHYSICS

FINDING AN EARTH-LIKE EXOPLANET: PLANET DENSITY

To find out what an exoplanet is made of, astronomers look at its size and mass.
From this they can calculate its density. This will help them to decide whether it is
likely to be a rocky planet like the Earth or a gas giant.

Gas or Ice Rock Rock with Iron Core

80000

Jupiter
60000
Saturn
Radius (km)

40000

Uranus
20000 Neptune
Venus Earth
Mars Mercury
0 Note: Planets are not to scale
0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7
Average density (g/cm3)

The biggest planets of the Solar System What you need to do:
(Jupiter and Saturn) have the lowest densities.
The steel represents the core of a planet.
They are gas giants, made of frozen gas or ice.
The sand represents the rocky exterior.
We couldn’t live there. The Earth is more dense.
It is a rocky planet with an iron core. 1. Measure or calculate the volume of the steel.
(Decide on your own method for this.)
The Earth’s average density is about 5.5 g/cm3.
That is in between the density of rock (about 2.5 2. Zero the balance. Measure the mass of
g/cm3) and the density of iron (7.9 g/cm3). the steel.
3. Work out the density of steel using
In this activity you will find out how much of the
mass of steel
Earth is rock and how much is iron. Density of steel =
volume of steel

What you’ll need: 4. Remove the steel from the balance.

• Balance 5. Follow the instructions on the student worksheet
to work out the density of a steel-sand mixture
• Measuring cylinder and the percentage of the Earth made of iron.
• Steel ball bearing or steel block approx.
2 or 3 cm across
• Sand

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 T Y4 T
VI K S HEE
TI R
AC WO EX PLANET
PHYSICS

PLANET DENSITY: MODELLING THE EARTH

g
0.00

Place the measuring Place the steel on the balance Add some sand and record
Record the cylinder on the balance and record the mass in cell B2 g
and volume of
the total mass 0.00
g

volume of the and zero it. of the table sand in cells B3 and C3
steel in cell A2 of of the table
the table
g g g
0.00

A AB C D E F Gradually increase the amount of sand,

g
g

1 Volume of steel Total mass (g) Volume of sand Total volume Steel Average recording the total mass in column B and
(sand + steel ) volume of sand in column C of the table
(cm3) (cm3) (cm3) percentage by density (g/cm3)
(sand + steel )
g
Volume
For each of your values calculate the total
2 0 100 % volume (steel + sand). Record your answers in
column D

3 For each of your values calculate the

percentage of the total volume that is steel
using Volume of steel
Steel % = x 100%
4 Total volume
Record your answers in column E

5 For each of your values calculate the average

density using Total mass
Average density =
Total volume
Record your answer in column F
6

Plot a graph of average density against steel

7
percentage. Use the graph to work out the
percentage of the Earth occupied by the core

Taking it further Use the internet to find out about the densities of some exoplanets. Which are likely to be gas giants? Which might be Earth-like?

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