Specic gravity

ply it by 1000.[1] Specic 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.

Not to be confused with specic weight.

This page is about the measurement using water as a reference. For a general use of specic
gravity, see relative density. See intensive property for the property implied by specic.

1 Details
Being a ratio of densities, specic gravity is a
dimensionless quantity. Specic 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 specic gravity of 1 are neutrally buoyant in water. Those with SG greater than 1 are denser than
water and will, disregarding surface tension eects, sink
in it. Those with an SG less than 1 are less dense than water and will oat on it. In scientic 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 specic gravity nds
wide application, often for historical reasons.
True specic gravity can be expressed mathematically as:

SGtrue =

sample
H2 O

where sample is the density of the sample and H2 O is the

density of water.
The apparent specic gravity is simply the ratio of the
weights of equal volumes of sample and water in air:
Testing specic gravity of fuel.

Specic gravity is the ratio of the density of a substance

to the density of a 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 specic gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the
substance to the weight of an equal volume of the reference substance. The reference substance is nearly always
water at its densest (4C) for liquids; for gases it is air at
room temperature (21C). Nonetheless, the temperature
and pressure must be specied 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 specic gravity as specied above is to multi-

SGapparent =

WAsample
WAH2 O

where WAsample represents the weight of sample and

WAH2 O the weight of water, both measured in air.
It can be shown that true specic gravity can be computed
from dierent properties:

SGtrue =

WVsample
sample
(msample /V )
msample g
=
=
=
H2 O
(mH2 O /V )
mH2 O g
WVH2 O

where g is the local acceleration due to gravity, V is the

volume of the sample and of water (the same for both),
1

MEASUREMENT: APPARENT AND TRUE SPECIFIC GRAVITY

sample is the density of the sample, H2 O is the density of

water and WV 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 (1013.25 mbar variations from changing
weather patterns). But as specic 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 specic gravity is being
measured. For true (in vacuo) specic gravity calculations, air pressure must be considered (see below). Temperatures are specied by the notation (Ts /Tr ) with Ts
representing the temperature at which the samples density was determined and Tr the temperature at which the
reference (water) density is specied. For example, SG
(20C/4C) would be understood to mean that the density of the sample was determined at 20C and of the
water at 4C. Taking into account dierent sample and
reference temperatures, we note that, while SGH2 O =
1.000000 (20C/20C), it is also the case that SGH2 O =
0.998203/0.999840 = 0.998363 (20C/4C). Here,
temperature is being specied using the current ITS-90
scale and the densities[2] 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 0.9982071 and
0.9999720 respectively, resulting in an SG (20C/4C)
value for water of 0.9982343.
As the principal use of specic gravity measurements in
industry is determination of the concentrations of substances in aqueous solutions and as these are found in tables of SG vs concentration, it is extremely important that
the analyst enter the table with the correct form of specic gravity. For example, in the brewing industry, the
Plato table lists sucrose concentration by weight against
true SG, and was originally (20C/4C)[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 H2 O equal to
0.999972 gcm3 in SI units (or 62.43 lb ft3 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 specic gravity measurements
at (20C/20C) on the IPTS-68 scale where the density
of water is 0.9982071 gcm3 . 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 (17.5C/17.5C). As a nal example, the
British SG units are based on reference and sample temperatures of 60F and are thus (15.56C/15.56C).

substance = SG H2 O .
Occasionally a reference substance other than water is
specied (for example, air), in which case specic gravity
means density relative to that reference.

2 Measurement:
apparent and
true specic gravity
2.1 Pycnometer
Specic 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 lled to a specic, but not necessarily accurately known volume, V . Placed upon a balance of some sort it will exert a force .

Fb = g(mb a

mb
)
b

where mb is the mass of the bottle and g the gravitational

acceleration at the location at which the measurements
are being made. a is the density of the air at the ambient
pressure and b 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, of course, lled 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 ll the bottle
with the reference uid e.g. pure water. The force exerted
on the pan of the balance becomes:

Fw = g(mb a

mb
+ V w V a ).
b

If we subtract the force measured on the empty bottle

from this (or tare the balance before making the water
measurement) we obtain.

Fw,n = gV (w a )
where the subscript n indicated that this force is net of
the force of the empty bottle. The bottle is now emptied,
thoroughly dried and relled with the sample. The force,
net of the empty bottle, is now:

Fs,n = gV (s a )
Given the specic gravity of a substance, its actual density
can be calculated by rearranging the above formula:
where s is the density of the sample. The ratio of the
sample and water forces is:

2.2

Digital density meters

This is called the Apparent Specic 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.

industries. The instruments measure the actual mass of

uid contained in a xed volume at temperatures between
0 and 80 C but as they are microprocessor based can calculate apparent or true specic 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 ow meters which
are widely used in chemical and petroleum industry for
high accuracy mass ow measurement and can be congured to also output density information based on the
resonant frequency of the vibrating ow tubes.

Further manipulation and nally substitution of SGV ,the

true specic gravity,(the subscript V is used because this
is often referred to as the specic gravity in vacuo) for ws
gives the relationship between apparent and true specic
gravity.

Ultrasonic Transducer: Ultrasonic waves are passed from

a source, through the uid 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.

SGA =

gV (s a )
(s a )
=
.
gV (w a )
(w a )

Radiation-based Gauge: Radiation is passed from a

source, through the uid of interest, and into a scintils
a
a

SG

V
lation detector, or counter. As the uid density increases,

w
SGA = w aw =
a
the detected radiation counts will decrease. The source
1 w
1 w
is typically the radioactive isotope cesium-137, with a
In the usual case we will have measured weights and want half-life of about 30 years. A key advantage for this techthe true specic gravity. This is found from
nology is that the instrument is not required to be in contact with the uid typically the source and detector are
mounted on the outside of tanks or piping. .[6]
a
SGV = SGA
(SGA 1).
Buoyant Force Transducer: the buoyancy force produced
w
by a oat in a homogeneous liquid is equal to the weight
[5] of the liquid that is displaced by the oat. Since buoySince the density of dry air at 1013.25 mb at 20 C is
0.001205 gcm3 and that of water is 0.998203 gcm3 ancy force is linear with respect to the density of the liqthe dierence between true and apparent specic gravi- uid within which the oat is submerged, the measure of
ties for a substance with specic gravity (20C/20C) of the buoyancy force yields a measure of the density of the
about 1.100 would be 0.000120. Where the specic grav- liquid. One commercially available unit claims the inity of the sample is close to that of water (for example strument is capable of measuring specic gravity with an
accuracy of +/- 0.005 SG units. The submersible probe
dilute ethanol solutions) the correction is even smaller.
head contains a mathematically characterized spring-oat
system. When the head is immersed vertically in the liq2.2 Digital density meters
uid, the oat moves vertically and the position of the oat
controls the position of a permanent magnet whose disHydrostatic Pressure-based Instruments: This technology placement is sensed by a concentric array of Hall-eect
relies upon Pascals Principle which states that the pres- linear displacement sensors. The output signals of the
sure dierence between two points within a vertical col- sensors are mixed in a dedicated electronics module that
umn of uid is dependent upon the vertical distance be- provides an output voltage whose magnitude is a direct
tween the two points, the density of the uid and the grav- linear measure of the quantity to be measured.[7]
itational force. This technology is often used for tank
In-Line Continuous Measurement: Slurry is weighed as
gauging applications as a convenient means of liquid level
it travels through the metered section of pipe using a
and density measure.
patented, high resolution load cell. This section of pipe is
Vibrating Element Transducers: This type of instrument of optimal length such that a truly representative mass of
requires a vibrating element to be placed in contact with the slurry may be determined. This representative mass
the uid of interest. The resonant frequency of the ele- is then interrogated by the load cell 110 times per secment is measured and is related to the density of the uid ond to ensure accurate and repeatable measurement of
by a characterization that is dependent upon the design the slurry.
of the element. In modern laboratories precise measurements of specic gravity are made using oscillating Utube 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

Examples
Helium gas has a density of 0.164g/liter[8] It is 0.139
times as dense as air.
Air has a density of 1.18g/l[8]

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

Urine normally has a specic gravity between 1.003
and 1.035.
Blood normally has a specic gravity of ~1.060.

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

References

[1] Hough, J.S., Briggs, D.E., Stevens, R and Young, 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 Einfhrung des Internationalen Temperaturskala von 1990 PTB-Mitteilungen
100 (1990) pp. 195196
[3] ASBC Methods of Analysis Preface to Table 1: Extract in
Wort and Beer, American Society of Brewing Chemists,
St Paul, 2009
[4] ASBC Methods of Analysis op. 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. Ohmartvega.com. Retrieved on 2011-11-18.
[7] Process Control Digital Electronic Hydrometer. Gardco.
Retrieved on 2011-11-18.
[8] UCSB

REFERENCES

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