Design and Prototype of Specific Gravity based Element Identifier

• Main Author: Ahmad, Mohd Azrin
• Format: Final Year Project
• Language: English
• Published: Universiti Teknologi Petronas 2008
• Subjects: TK Electrical engineering. Electronics Nuclear engineering
• Online Access: http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/7856/1/2008%20Bachelor%20-%20Design%20And%20Prototype%20Of%20Specific%20Gravity%20Based%20Element%20Identifier.pdf; http://utpedia.utp.edu.my/7856/

All elements have distinct density and this special feature make them can be effectively identified. The concept of buoyouncy and Archimedes' theory is applied in this project to find the volume of the elements. According to Archimedes, The buoyant force on a submerged object is equal to the weight of the fluid displaced. This principle is useful for determining the volume and therefore the density of an irregularly shaped object by measuring its mass in air and its effective mass when submerged in water. This effective mass under water will be its actual mass minus the mass of the fluid displaced. The difference between the real and effective mass therefore gives the mass of water displaced and allows the calculation of the volume of the irregularly shaped object. Then the specific gravity of the elements is calculated and the value is compared to the table to identify the corresponding elements The element identifier that is design in this project should be able to measure actual specific gravity of all the elements to achieve accurate reading and able to identify the elements correctly. However there are some errors that can not be avoided during the measurement process. The most difficult error to be avoided is vibration error because this element identifier uses water to measure the volume of the elements. The vibration error will occur during the submerging process of the elements into the water. Other errors that are discussed in this report are quantization error that occurs in process of converting the analogue reading to digital.