How do you measure the volume of an irregular object?

Answer 1

Place it in a graduated cylinder (or any other metered container), completely submerge the object, and record the amount of water displaced.

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Place an empty beaker onto a second larger catch pan. Be sure that your catch pan will hold water without leaking, and make sure it is large enough to catch ALL of the water that will spill out of the beaker. Fill a beaker until you can see the meniscus above the rim of the container. CAREFULLY lower your irregular object into the beaker with water allowing the beaker to over flow into the catch pan. Once you have your object submerged in the beaker, remove the beaker from the catch pan. Let the little bit of water adhered to the exterior of the beaker drip into the catch pan for a few seconds to make your measurement as accurate as possible. Using a graduated cylinder, measure the volume of water that has over flowed into your catch pan. The volume of this water will be very close to the volume of your irregular object.