Physic AP question I suppose to estimated how many corn Kernel are in a a 2litter botle ?

Question

I suppose to estimated how many corn Kernel are in a a 2 litter bottle could some one help me please. Thank You

please also show an equation for finding the number

Answer 1

I would weigh a sampling of corn kernels to determine an average weight of a single kernel.  Then weigh the full bottle, subtract the weight of an empty bottle, then divide the net weight by the average single kernel weight.

Answer 2

Find the volume of a kernal in Liters, we'll say volume m.

2 / m = approx. amount of kernals in bottle

Answer 3

Say the average corn kernel is 1 cm x 0.75 cm x 0.4 cm

The volume of a corn kernel is then 0.3 cm³

A crude estimate of the packing density would be somewhere between ellipsoid and sphere at around 65% (google "Kepler Conjecture")

2 L = 2000 cm³

2000 cm³ · 0.65 / 0.3 cm³ = 4333 kernels