Specific gravity

Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a

Specific gravity
reference substance; equivalently, it is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the
mass of a reference substance for the same given volume. Apparent specific gravity
Common SG
symbols
is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the substance to the weight of an equal
SI unit Unitless
volume of the reference substance. The reference substance for liquids is nearly
always water at its densest (at 4 °C or 39.2 °F); for gases it is air at room Derivations
from
temperature (20 °C or 68 °F). Nonetheless, the temperature and pressure must be
other quantities
specified for both the sample and the reference. Pressure is nearly always 1 atm
(101.325 kPa).

Temperatures for both sample and reference vary from industry to industry. In
British beer brewing, the practice for specific gravity as specified above is to
multiply it by 1,000.[1] Specific gravity is commonly used in industry as a simple
means of obtaining information about the concentration of solutions of various
materials such as brines, hydrocarbons, sugar solutions (syrups, juices, honeys,
brewers wort, must, etc.) and acids.

Contents
Details
Measurement: apparent and true specific gravity
Pycnometer
Digital density meters
Examples
See also
A US Navy Aviation Boatswain's
References
Mate tests the specific gravity of JP-5
fuel

Details
Being a ratio of densities, specific gravity is a dimensionless quantity. The reason for the specific gravity being dimensionless is to
provide a global consistency between the U.S. and Metric Systems, since various units for density may be used such as pounds per
cubic feet or grams per cubic centimeter, etc. Specific gravity varies with temperature and pressure; reference and sample must be
compared at the same temperature and pressure or be corrected to a standard reference temperature and pressure. Substances with a
specific gravity of 1 are neutrally buoyant in water. Those with SG greater than 1 are denser than water and will, disregarding surface
tension effects, sink in it. Those with an SG less than 1 are less dense than water and will float on it. In scientific work, the
relationship of mass to volume is usually expressed directly in terms of the density (mass per unit volume) of the substance under
study. It is in industry where specific gravity finds wide application, often for historical reasons.

True specific gravity can be expressed mathematically as:

where ρsample is the density of the sample andρH2O is the density of water.
The apparent specific gravity is simply the ratio of the weights of equal volumes of sample and water in air:

where WA,sample represents the weight of the sample measured in air andWA,H 2O the weight of water measured in air.

It can be shown that true specific gravity can be computed from dif
ferent properties:

where g is the local acceleration due to gravity, V is the volume of the sample and of water (the same for both), ρsample is the density
of the sample, ρH2O is the density of water andWV represents a weight obtained in vacuum.

The density of water varies with temperature and pressure as does the density of the sample. So it is necessary to specify the
temperatures and pressures at which the densities or weights were determined. It is nearly always the case that measurements are
made at 1 nominal atmosphere (101.325 kPa ± variations from changing weather patterns). But as specific gravity usually refers to
highly incompressible aqueous solutions or other incompressible substances (such as petroleum products), variations in density
caused by pressure are usually neglected at least where apparent specific gravity is being measured. For true (in vacuo) specific
gravity calculations, air pressure must be considered (see below). Temperatures are specified by the notation (Ts/Tr), with Ts
representing the temperature at which the sample's density was determined and Tr the temperature at which the reference (water)
density is specified. For example, SG (20 °C/4 °C) would be understood to mean that the density of the sample was determined at
20 °C and of the water at 4 °C. Taking into account different sample and reference temperatures, we note that, while SGH2O =
1.000 000 (20 °C/20 °C), it is also the case that SGH2O = 0.998 203 ⁄
0.999 840 = 0.998 363 (20 °C/4 °C). Here, temperature is being
specified using the current ITS-90 scale and the [2]
densities used here and in the rest of this article are based on that scale. On the
previous IPTS-68 scale, the densities at 20 °C and 4 °C are 0.998 2071 and 0.999 9720 respectively, resulting in an SG (20 °C/4 °C)
value for water of 0.998 2343.

As the principal use of specific gravity measurements in industry is determination of the concentrations of substances in aqueous
solutions and as these are found in tables of SG versus concentration, it is extremely important that the analyst enter the table with the
correct form of specific gravity. For example, in the brewing industry, the Plato table lists sucrose concentration by weight against
true SG, and was originally (20 °C/4 °C)[3] i.e. based on measurements of the density of sucrose solutions made at laboratory
temperature (20 °C) but referenced to the density of water at 4 °C which is very close to the temperature at which water has its
maximum density ρH2O equal to 999.972 kg/m3 in SI units (0.999 972 g/cm3 in cgs units or 62.43 lb/cu ft in United States customary
units). The ASBC table[4] in use today in North America, while it is derived from the original Plato table is for apparent specific
gravity measurements at (20 °C/20 °C) on the IPTS-68 scale where the density of water is 0.998 2071 g/cm3. In the sugar, soft drink,
honey, fruit juice and related industries sucrose concentration by weight is taken from a table prepared by A. Brix which uses SG
(17.5 °C/17.5 °C). As a final example, the British SG units are based on reference and sample temperatures of 60 °F and are thus
(15.56 °C/15.56 °C).

Given the specific gravity of a substance, its actual density can be calculated by rearranging the above formula:

Occasionally a reference substance other than water is specified (for example, air), in which case specific gravity means density
relative to that reference.

Measurement: apparent and true specific gravity

Pycnometer
Specific gravity can be measured in a number of value ways. The following illustration involving the use of the pycnometer is
instructive. A pycnometer is simply a bottle which can be precisely filled to a specific, but not necessarily accurately known volume,
V. Placed upon a balance of some sort it will exert a force.

where mb is the mass of the bottle andg the gravitational accelerationat the location at which the measurements are being made. ρa is
the density of the air at ambient pressure and ρb is the density of the material of which the bottle is made (usually glass) so that the
second term is the mass of air displaced by the glass of the bottle whose weight, by Archimedes Principle must be subtracted. The
bottle is filled with air, but as that air displaces an equal amount of air the weight of that air is canceled by the weight of the air
displaced. Now we fill the bottle with the reference fluid, for example pure water. The force exerted on the pan of the balance
becomes:

If we subtract the force measured on the empty bottle from this (or tare the balance before making the water measurement) we obtain.

where the subscript n indicates that this force is net of the force of the empty bottle. The bottle is now emptied, thoroughly dried and
refilled with the sample. The force, net of the empty bottle, is now:

where ρs is the density of the sample. The ratio of the sample and water forces is:

This is called the Apparent Specific Gravity, denoted by subscript A, because it is what we would obtain if we took the ratio of net
weighings in air from an analytical balance or used a hydrometer (the stem displaces air). Note that the result does not depend on the
calibration of the balance. The only requirement on it is that it read linearly with force. Nor does SGA depend on the actual volume of
the pycnometer.

Further manipulation and finally substitution ofSGV, the true specific gravity (the subscript V is used because this is often referred to
ρ
as the specific gravityin vacuo), for ρ s gives the relationship between apparent and true specific gravity
.
w

In the usual case we will have measured weights and want the true specific gravity
. This is found from

[5] 0.001 205 g/cm3 and that of water is 0.998 203 g/cm3 the difference between
Since the density of dry air at 101.325 kPa at 20 °C is
true and apparent specific gravities for a substance with specific gravity (20 °C/20 °C) of about 1.100 would be 0.000 120. Where the
specific gravity of the sample is close to that of water (for example dilute ethanol solutions) the correction is even smaller
.
Digital density meters

Hydrostatic pressure-based instruments

This technology relies upon Pascal's Principle which states that the pressure difference
between two points within a vertical column of fluid is dependent upon the vertical distance
between the two points, the density of the fluid and the gravitational force. This technology is
often used for tank gauging applications as a convenient means of liquid level and density
measure.

Vibrating element transducers

This type of instrument requires a vibrating element to be placed in contact with the fluid of
interest. The resonant frequency of the element is measured and is related to the density of
the fluid by a characterization that is dependent upon the design of the element. In modern
laboratories precise measurements of specific gravity are made using oscillating U-tube
meters. These are capable of measurement to 5 to 6 places beyond the decimal point and
are used in the brewing, distilling, pharmaceutical, petroleum and other industries. The
instruments measure the actual mass of fluid contained in a fixed volume at temperatures
between 0 and 80 °C but as they are microprocessor based can calculate apparent or true
specific gravity and contain tables relating these to the strengths of common acids, sugar
solutions, etc. The vibrating fork immersion probe is another good example of this
technology. This technology also includes many coriolis-type mass flow meters which are
widely used in chemical and petroleum industry for high accuracy mass flow measurement
and can be configured to also output density information based on the resonant frequency of
the vibrating flow tubes.

Ultrasonic transducer
Ultrasonic waves are passed from a source, through the fluid of interest, and into a detector
which measures the acoustic spectroscopy of the waves. Fluid properties such as density
and viscosity can be inferred from the spectrum.

Radiation-based gauge
Radiation is passed from a source, through the fluid of interest, and into a scintillation
detector, or counter. As the fluid density increases, the detected radiation "counts" will
decrease. The source is typically the radioactive isotope cesium-137, with a half-life of about
30 years. A key advantage for this technology is that the instrument is not required to be in
contact with the fluid – typically the source and detector are mounted on the outside of tanks
or piping. .[6]

Buoyant force transducer

The buoyancy force produced by a float in a homogeneous liquid is equal to the weight of
the liquid that is displaced by the float. Since buoyancy force is linear with respect to the
density of the liquid within which the float is submerged, the measure of the buoyancy force
yields a measure of the density of the liquid. One commercially available unit claims the
instrument is capable of measuring specific gravity with an accuracy of ±0.005 SG units. The
submersible probe head contains a mathematically characterized spring-float system. When
the head is immersed vertically in the liquid, the float moves vertically and the position of the
float controls the position of a permanent magnet whose displacement is sensed by a
concentric array of Hall-effect linear displacement sensors. The output signals of the sensors
are mixed in a dedicated electronics module that provides an output voltage whose
magnitude is a direct linear measure of the quantity to be measured.[7]

Inline continuous measurement

Slurry is weighed as it travels through the metered section of pipe using a patented, high
resolution load cell. This section of pipe is of optimal length such that a truly representative
mass of the slurry may be determined. This representative mass is then interrogated by the
load cell 110 times per second to ensure accurate and repeatable measurement of the
slurry.
Examples
Helium gas has a density of 0.164 g/L;[8] it is 0.139 times as dense asair.
Air has a density of 1.18 g/L.[8]

Material Specific gravity

Balsa wood 0.2
Oak wood 0.75
Ethanol 0.78
Water 1
Table salt 2.17
Aluminium 2.7
Cement 3.15
Iron 7.87
Copper 8.96
Lead 11.35
Mercury 13.56
Depleted uranium 19.1
Gold 19.3
Osmium 22.59

(Samples may vary, and these figures are approximate.)

Urine normally has a specific gravity between 1.003 and 1.035.

Blood normally has a specific gravity of approximately 1.060.
Vodka 80 proof has a specific gravity of 0.9498.[9]

See also
API gravity
Baumé scale
Buoyancy
Fluid mechanics
Gravity (beer)
Hydrometer
Jolly balance
Pycnometer
Plato scale

References
1. Hough, J.S., Briggs, D.E., Stevens, R and Y
oung, T.W. Malting and Brewing Science, Vol. II Hopped Wort and Beer,
Chapman and Hall, London, 1991, p. 881
2. Bettin, H.; Spieweck, F.: "Die Dichte des Wassers als Funktion der Temperatur nach Einführung des Internationalen
Temperaturskala von 1990" PTB-Mitteilungen100 (1990) pp. 195–196
3. ASBC Methods of Analysis Preface to T
able 1: Extract in Wort and Beer, American Society of Brewing Chemists, St
Paul, 2009
4. ASBC Methods of Analysisop. cit. Table 1: Extract in Wort and Beer
 5. DIN51 757 (04.1994): Testing of mineral oils and related materials; determination of density
6. Density – VEGA Americas, Inc(http://www.ohmartvega.com/en/nuclear_density_DSG.htm). Ohmartvega.com.
Retrieved on 2011-11-18.
7. Process Control Digital Electronic Hydrometer(http://www.gardco.com/pages/density/electric_hydrometer.cfm).
Gardco. Retrieved on 2011-11-18.
8. UCSB (http://web.physics.ucsb.edu/~lecturedemonstrations/Composer/Pages/36.39.html)
9. Table of liqueurs Specific Gravity(http://www.goodcocktails.com/bartending/specific_gravity.php)

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