Specific gravity
Not to be confused with specific weight.
This page is about the measurement using wa-
ter as a reference. For a general use of specific
gravity, see relative density. See intensive prop-
erty for the property implied by “specific”.
Testing specific gravity of fuel.
Specific 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 refer-
ence substance for the same given volume. Apparent spe-
cific gravity is the ratio of the weight of a volume of the
substance to the weight of an equal volume of the refer-
ence substance. The reference substance is nearly always
water at its densest (4°C) for liquids; for gases it is air at
room temperature (21°C). Nonetheless, the temperature
and pressure must be 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 multi-
1
ply it by 1000.[1] Specific gravity is commonly used in in-
dustry 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.
1 Details
Being a ratio of densities, specific gravity is a
dimensionless quantity. Specific gravity varies with tem-
perature and pressure; reference and sample must be
compared at the same temperature and pressure or be cor-
rected to a standard reference temperature and pressure.
Substances with a specific gravity of 1 are neutrally buoy-
ant 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 wa-
ter 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:
ρsample
SGtrue =
ρH2 O
where ρsample is the density of the sample and ρH2 O 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:
WAsample
SGapparent =
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 specific gravity can be computed
from different properties:
ρsample (msample /V ) msample g WVsample
SGtrue = = = =
ρH2 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),
2 2 MEASUREMENT: APPARENT AND TRUE SPECIFIC GRAVITY
ρsample is the density of the sample, ρH2 O is the density of
water and WV represents a weight obtained in vacuum.
The density of water varies with temperature and pres-
sure as does the density of the sample. So it is neces-
sary to specify the temperatures and pressures at which
the densities or weights were determined. It is nearly al-
ways the case that measurements are made at 1 nominal
atmosphere (1013.25 mbar ± variations from changing
weather patterns). But as specific gravity usually refers
to highly incompressible aqueous solutions or other in-
compressible substances (such as petroleum products),
variations in density caused by pressure are usually ne-
glected at least where apparent specific gravity is being
measured. For true (in vacuo) specific gravity calcula-
tions, air pressure must be considered (see below). Tem-
peratures are specified by the notation (Ts /Tr ) with Ts
representing the temperature at which the sample’s den-
sity 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 den-
sity 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 SGH2 O =
1.000000 (20°C/20°C), it is also the case that SGH2 O =
0.998203/0.999840 = 0.998363 (20°C/4°C). Here,
temperature is being specified 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 (20°C/4°C)
value for water of 0.9982343.
As the principal use of specific gravity measurements in
industry is determination of the concentrations of sub-
stances in aqueous solutions and as these are found in ta-
bles of SG vs concentration, it is extremely important that
the analyst enter the table with the correct form of spe-
cific 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 temper-
ature at which water has its maximum density ρH2 O equal
to 0.999972 g·cm−3 in SI units (or 62.43 lb·ft−3 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 0.9982071 g·cm−3 . In the sugar, soft drink,
honey, fruit juice and related industries sucrose concen-
tration 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 tem-
peratures of 60F 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:
ρsubstance = SG × ρH2 O .
Occasionally a reference substance other than water is
specified (for example, air), in which case specific gravity
means density relative to that reference.
2 Measurement: apparent and
true specific gravity
2.1 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 bot-
tle which can be precisely filled to a specific, but not nec-
essarily accurately known volume, V . Placed upon a bal-
ance of some sort it will exert a force .
mb
Fb = g(mb − ρa )
ρb
where mb is the mass of the bottle and g the gravitational
acceleration at the location at which the measurements
are being made. ρa is the density of the air at the 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, of course, 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 e.g. pure water. The force exerted
on the pan of the balance becomes:
mb
Fw = g(mb − ρa + V ρw − V ρa ).
ρb
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 (ρw − ρa )
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 refilled with the sample. The force,
net of the empty bottle, is now:
Fs,n = gV (ρs − ρa )
where ρs is the density of the sample. The ratio of the
sample and water forces is:
2.2 Digital density meters 3

industries. The instruments measure the actual mass of

gV (ρs − ρa ) (ρs − ρa )
SGA = = .
gV (ρw − ρa ) (ρw − ρa )
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 bal-
ance. The only requirement on it is that it read linearly
with force. Nor does SGA depend on the actual volume
of the pycnometer.
fluid contained in a fixed volume at temperatures between
0 and 80 °C but as they are microprocessor based can cal-
culate apparent or true specific gravity and contain tables
relating these to the strengths of common acids, sugar so-
lutions, etc. The vibrating fork immersion probe is an-
other 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 con-
figured to also output density information based on the
resonant frequency of the vibrating flow tubes.

Further manipulation and finally substitution of SGV ,the Ultrasonic Transducer: Ultrasonic waves are passed from
true specific gravity,(the subscript V is used because this a source, through the fluid of interest, and into a detector
is often referred to as the specific gravity in vacuo) for ρρws which measures the acoustic spectroscopy of the waves.
gives the relationship between apparent and true specific Fluid properties such as density and viscosity can be in-
gravity. ferred from the spectrum.
Radiation-based Gauge: Radiation is passed from a
source, through the fluid of interest, and into a scintil-
ρs
ρ − ρa
ρ SG V − ρa
ρw lation detector, or counter. As the fluid density increases,
SGA = w ρaw =
1 − ρw 1 − ρw
ρa the detected radiation “counts” will decrease. The source
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 tech-
the true specific gravity. This is found from nology is that the instrument is not required to be in con-
tact with the fluid – typically the source and detector are
mounted on the outside of tanks or piping. .[6]
ρa
SGV = SGA − (SGA − 1). Buoyant Force Transducer: the buoyancy force produced
ρw
by a float in a homogeneous liquid is equal to the weight
[5] of the liquid that is displaced by the float. Since buoy-
Since the density of dry air at 1013.25 mb at 20 °C is
0.001205 g·cm−3 and that of water is 0.998203 g·cm−3 ancy force is linear with respect to the density of the liq-
the difference between true and apparent specific gravi- uid within which the float is submerged, the measure of
ties for a substance with specific gravity (20°C/20°C) of the buoyancy force yields a measure of the density of the
about 1.100 would be 0.000120. Where the specific grav- liquid. One commercially available unit claims the in-
ity of the sample is close to that of water (for example strument is capable of measuring specific gravity with an
dilute ethanol solutions) the correction is even smaller. 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 liq-
2.2 Digital density meters uid, the float moves vertically and the position of the float
controls the position of a permanent magnet whose dis-
Hydrostatic Pressure-based Instruments: This technology placement is sensed by a concentric array of Hall-effect
relies upon Pascal’s Principle which states that the pres- linear displacement sensors. The output signals of the
sure difference between two points within a vertical col- sensors are mixed in a dedicated electronics module that
umn of fluid is dependent upon the vertical distance be- provides an output voltage whose magnitude is a direct
tween the two points, the density of the fluid 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 fluid of interest. The resonant frequency of the ele- is then interrogated by the load cell 110 times per sec-
ment is measured and is related to the density of the fluid 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 measure-
ments 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
4 5 REFERENCES

3 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 figures are approximate.)

• Urine normally has a specific gravity between 1.003

and 1.035.
• Blood normally has a specific gravity of ~1.060.

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

5 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 Einführung des Interna-
tionalen Temperaturskala von 1990” PTB-Mitteilungen
100 (1990) pp. 195–196

[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. Re-

trieved on 2011-11-18.

[7] Process Control Digital Electronic Hydrometer. Gardco.

Retrieved on 2011-11-18.

[8] UCSB
 5

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