What is the weight of 10 liters of Alum?

Answer 1

The answer to this question depends on the form of the aluminum. If the aluminum is a complete solid that has an actual volume of 10 liters of pure aluminum, the following answer will suffice with an addendum. If the aluminum is in bead form or in any granulated form, however, an estimate of particle shape and size and container shape and size or a liquid suspension estimate of volume will be required.

It must be noted that the weight of an object actually refers to its mass multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity. The colloquial "weight" generally refers to mass, and mass will be used here. To obtain weight, multiply the mass by the acceleration due to gravity (9.8 m/s2) to obtain the weight in newtons.

To determine the mass of a solid:Since the volume of the Aluminum is known, we can calculate it's weight if it's density and purity is known. (for this question assuming the Aluminum is at least 99% pure)

Density of Aluminum is approximately 2.7g/cm3 (cubic cm )

1 liter = 1000cm3

10 liters = 1000 x10 = 10000cm3

Using the formula Density = mass /volume

Thus: Mass = Volume x Density

In this case Mass = (2.7 x 10000) = 27000g

27000/1000 = 27 kg

Addendum

In order to determine the mass of a container of solid, you must have the actual volume of the material. If the material is not solid, you must find the percent solid material per unit volume and then multiply that by your volume to determine the mass.

Addendum (2)

As the question asks for the weight of "Alum", not aluminum, one must first determine which type of alum one is inquiring about (Wikipedia lists several compounds having a similar chemical formula) and then determine the density of that compound. Once the density for the specific compound is determined, one may use the above formula to determine the weight.

Addendum (3)

The specific gravity of alum is 1.34, so 10 liters would weight 13.4kg.