[yolig617]

What errors occur if the solids are not dry when added to the graduated cylinder?
Will the density be larger or smaller than actual value? Why?

[elscarta]

If the solids are not dry then you are adding some water to the graduated cylinder. This will lead to a greater value for the volume of the solid that its actual value. Also since you weighed the solid its mass will also be greater than the actual mass.

Assuming that the solid sinks into the graduated cylinder, i.e. that its density is greater than that of water, then the calculated density will be less that the actual density, as the calculated density is the weighted average of the density of the solid and the density of the added water.

So if there was very little water on the solid before adding it to the graduated cylinder, then the value will be just a little bit less than the actual value, and the more water there was on the solid the smaller the calculated value will be.

Hope this helps.

[InfoJunkie4Life]

Just think of wet dirt...
Density is the amount of weight per volume...
Does dirt get heavier when it is wet?
Does dirt get larger when it is wet?

What problem could this cause if you want to know how much pure dirt weighs when it isn't pure?

[InfoJunkie4Life]

P.S. When speaking chemically, solids may be wet when (partially) saturated with water or chemically saturated with water.

Either rarely affects volume.

[elscarta]

I was assuming that yolig617 was trying to calculate the density of a solid object by the displacement of water method. The question is vague about exactly what the experiment is.