The major aim of the experiment was to identify the unknown metals by finding their densities. In order to achieve this aim, the different metals were immersed in water and displaced water used to obtain the volume of each metal. Each metal was then weighed on measuring scale and the mass obtained. The relationship between the mass and the volume of the displaced liquid was used to obtain the density of each metal. This values were therefore compared to a list of various accepted values of metal densities and thereby identifying the respective metals.

The physical properties of a body can be easily used to determine the density of the body. In this case, the volume and the mass are the physical properties of each metal. Volume is defined as the three dimension space that a material occupies and is measured using cubic meter (). Therefore, to obtain the volume of an object highly depends on the shape of the object. The volume of a regular shaped object can be easily obtained by using geometric formulas. However, most objects are irregular and obtaining the volume of such objects requires the object to be immersed in water and the volume of displaced fluid measured using a calibrated container. The mass is defined as the amount of matter within a body and is measured using grams (g).
Density is therefore the ratio of mass to the volume of the object, described using the formula below:

Density is measured by , or .

The study of density of metals is very crucial especially in the manufacture of airplanes where the density of the metals used should be very low for fuel efficiency but also strong enough to overcome the high speeds and atmospheric pressures. The present airplanes are made up of an alloy of aluminum has a low density and can withstand very high pressures.