What Is Specific Gravity? How Do You Measure It?
Specific gravity is also called relative density.
It’s used to define the weight or density of a substance as compared to the density of an equal volume of a reference substance at a specified temperature.
Specific gravity for liquids is almost always measured with a reference point to water with the temperature at 4 °C or 39.2 °F.
Specific gravity for gases is almost always measured in reference to air at a room temperature of 20 °C or 68 °F.
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Specific Gravity Is A Measurement
Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. (source ◳)
In most of the cases the reference substance is water for liquids or air for gases. Specific gravity represents a ratio and is therefore dimensionless. (source ◳)
How To Measure Specific Gravity
We can use specific gravity to determine the density of the substance.
The density of liquid water is 0.997, so if we weigh a cup of water and then weigh the cup of water after we have added a substance, we can determine the density of the water by using the formula:
weight of water – weight of water + substance
Specific Gravity For Solids And Liquids
Specific gravity is a measure of the density of a substance, which is useful for distinguishing between a solid and a liquid.
The more dense a substance, the more solid it is.
Water is the most dense liquid known. We know that water has a specific gravity of 1.000.
Dense substances have a specific gravity of 1.000 or more. So dense substances are called solids, and substances that are less dense are called liquids.
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Foods You Can Measure With Specific Gravity
We only have one food in our tool that has a measurement for it
Foods in our nutrition tool
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We currently have just a few foods in our nutrition tool that measure specific gravity.
Here's our short list of foods that measure Specific Gravity.