What is density?
Answer
Density is the mass per unit volume of a substance, given by density = mass ÷ volume, with SI unit kg/m³.
The working
Definition
Density tells how much mass is packed into a given volume of a material. It is a scalar quantity that is characteristic of the substance.
Formula
Density (ρ) = mass (m) ÷ volume (V). If mass is in kg and volume in m³, density comes out in kg/m³.
Units
The SI unit is kg/m³, while g/cm³ is common in labs. Note that 1 g/cm³ = 1000 kg/m³, so water has density 1000 kg/m³.
Key idea
For a pure substance at fixed temperature, density stays constant regardless of the sample size. It decides whether an object floats or sinks in a fluid.
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