{"id":227536,"date":"2025-06-06T07:46:27","date_gmt":"2025-06-06T07:46:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/?p=227536"},"modified":"2025-06-06T07:46:29","modified_gmt":"2025-06-06T07:46:29","slug":"the-sink-float-method-is-often-used-to-identify-the-type-of-glass-material-found-at-crime-scenes-by-determining-its-density","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/2025\/06\/06\/the-sink-float-method-is-often-used-to-identify-the-type-of-glass-material-found-at-crime-scenes-by-determining-its-density\/","title":{"rendered":"The sink-float method is often used to identify the type of glass material found at crime scenes by determining its density."},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The sink-float method is often used to identify the type of glass material found at crime scenes by determining its density. Several different types of glass of known density are placed into solutions of varying densities. Determine whether each glass piece will sink, float, or do neither when immersed in the given solution. Glass that will sink Glass that will float Glass that will not sink or float Alkali zinc borosilicate with a density of 2.57 g\/mL solution with density of 2.42 g\/mL Polish sodium lead with density of 3.05 g\/mL solution with density of 1.69 g\/mL Alkali strontium with density of 2.26 g\/mL in solution with density of 2.32 g\/mL Red glass with density of 2.27 g\/mL solution with density of 0.26 g\/mL Polish borosilicate with density of 2.16 g\/mL in solution with density of 0.216 g\/mL<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><mark style=\"background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)\" class=\"has-inline-color has-ast-global-color-1-color\">The Correct Answer and Explanation is:<\/mark><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Correct Classification:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Glass that will sink:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alkali zinc borosilicate (2.57 g\/mL) in solution (2.42 g\/mL)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Polish sodium lead (3.05 g\/mL) in solution (1.69 g\/mL)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Red glass (2.27 g\/mL) in solution (0.26 g\/mL)<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Polish borosilicate (2.16 g\/mL) in solution (0.216 g\/mL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Glass that will float:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Alkali strontium (2.26 g\/mL) in solution (2.32 g\/mL)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong>Glass that will not sink or float:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><em>None<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-alpha-channel-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Explanation:<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The <strong>sink-float method<\/strong> is a forensic technique used to help identify materials\u2014commonly glass\u2014based on their <strong>density<\/strong>. The principle behind this method is straightforward: when an object is placed in a liquid, it will:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Sink<\/strong> if its density is <strong>greater<\/strong> than the liquid&#8217;s density,<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Float<\/strong> if its density is <strong>less<\/strong> than the liquid&#8217;s density, and<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Remain suspended (neither sink nor float)<\/strong> if its density is <strong>equal<\/strong> to the liquid&#8217;s density.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In forensic investigations, comparing the density of unknown glass fragments to reference glasses or immersion liquids can help match a fragment to a possible source.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Let\u2019s analyze the given samples:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ol class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Alkali zinc borosilicate (2.57 g\/mL) vs. solution (2.42 g\/mL):<\/strong><br>The glass is denser, so it will <strong>sink<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Polish sodium lead (3.05 g\/mL) vs. solution (1.69 g\/mL):<\/strong><br>The glass is much denser, so it will <strong>sink<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Alkali strontium (2.26 g\/mL) vs. solution (2.32 g\/mL):<\/strong><br>The glass is less dense than the solution, so it will <strong>float<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Red glass (2.27 g\/mL) vs. solution (0.26 g\/mL):<\/strong><br>The glass is significantly denser, so it will <strong>sink<\/strong>.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Polish borosilicate (2.16 g\/mL) vs. solution (0.216 g\/mL):<\/strong><br>The glass is much denser, so it will <strong>sink<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">None of the glass samples have the exact same density as the corresponding solutions, so <strong>none<\/strong> will &#8220;not sink or float.&#8221; Only the alkali strontium glass floats; the rest are denser and sink.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/06\/learnexams-banner9-101.jpeg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-227537\"\/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The sink-float method is often used to identify the type of glass material found at crime scenes by determining its density. Several different types of glass of known density are placed into solutions of varying densities. Determine whether each glass piece will sink, float, or do neither when immersed in the given solution. Glass that [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-227536","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-exams-certification"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227536","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=227536"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/227536\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=227536"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=227536"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.learnexams.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=227536"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}