Question

A
76.00
76.00
pound flask of mercury costs
$151.00.
$151.00.
The density of mercury is
13.534
g/cm
3
.
13.534 g/cm3.
Find the price of one cubic inch of mercury by calculating intermediate values.
What is the price of one pound of mercury?

Answer 1

price of one pound of mercury ---> simply divide (total $ spent)/(total # of pounds), to get the price per pound

now, for the harder question, the price per 1 cubic inch. thinking about this in terms of units, we want the final unit to be $/cm^3
start with the units we're given

\[\frac{ $151.00 }{ 76.00~lbs }\]from there, we can go from lbs to grams. to do this, we multiply by the conversion rate (1lb/453.592g, since 1 lb = 453.592g), so we can cancel out lbs and end up with grams at the bottom.

\[\frac{ $151.00 }{ 76.00~lbs }\frac{ 1~lb }{ 453.592g }\]

now, we want to go from grams to cubic centimers. recall that we are also given the density of mercury 13.534 g/cm^3. this is perfect, because we want to cancel out grams, and end up with cm^3 in the bottom of our expression.

\[\frac{ $151.00 }{ 76.00~lbs }\frac{ 1~lb }{ 453.592g }\frac{ 13.534 g }{ cm^3 }\]
simplify this expression, cancel out units, and you should end up with the price per cm^3

Answer 2

Addendum I’m an idiot, it wants it in cubic inches not cubic cm

2.54 cm = 1 inch

Therefore

2.54^3 cm^3 = 1 inch^3

Take the previous value, multiply by the conversion factor 2.54^3 cm^3 / 1 inch^3