How Can You Determine Density from the Mass–Volume Relationship? In class, you saw that pieces of chalk had the same density, even though they were different sizes. First, you measured the mass and volume of each piece of chalk. Then, for each piece, you divided its mass by its volume. The numbers you calculated for each piece of chalk should have been very similar to each other, around 2.4 g/cm3. The g stands for grams (the mass of the chalk). The cm3 stands for cubic centimeters (the volume of the chalk). The number with the g/cm3 is the density of the chalk. You read the measurement, grams per cubic centimeter. It tells you about the mass-to-volume relationship.