Measuring Air Density in the Introductory Lab

The measurement of the mass, or the density, of air can easily be done with very simple materials and offers many interesting phenomena for discussion—buoyancy and its effects being the most obvious but not the only one. Many interesting considerations can be done regarding the behavior of gases, the effect of the external conditions in the measurement, and the reason for the choice of the procedure, among others. One of the most widespread approaches makes use of rubber balloons. Such an approach can be misleading if attention is not paid to the effect of the buoyant force on the balloon, exerted by the surrounding air.