Penny Counting Activity Lab

Penny Counting Activity

Objective: Determine how many pennies are in a container without opening it by using a step by step process.

Directions: You have a container with a small amount of pennies inside it. You need to determine, without opening the container, how many pennies are contained inside it.  You have balances, calculators, example pennies and containers in the room. 

Questions:

1. Write and explain your calculations to determine the amount of pennies in the container. Write your step by step process and be specific.

2. Did you figure out the correct number of pennies? What did you do right or wrong?

3. How does this procedure relate to the concept of the weights of atoms and the mole?  Explain what this would allow us to compute about the number of moles.

4. How would this be different if the coins were nickels or quarters? How would this relate to the atoms and moles? Think about what we looked at with different substances and the number of moles.