Eastern Mediterranean University

Civil Engineering Department

Name and Surname: diyaa abushawar

Student Number: 148724
Experiment Group: Wednesday (A)
Experiment Name: GRAIN SIZE ANALYSIS
Experiment #: 1
AIM OF EXPERIMENT:
To determine the specific gravity of the soil using a pycnometer.
APPARATUS:
- Pycnometer
- Weight balancer
PROCEDURE:
I. We measured the weight of empty pycnometer
II. We put the sample which consisted of sand soil in the pycnometer
III. We added water and we had to wait for the soil to be soaked in water, but
due to the sandy nature of our soil, stirring was sufficient.
IV. Then we emptied the pycnometer and washed it properly then filled it
with water.

CALCULATIONS:

Specific gravity of the soil solids:

𝑚𝑠
𝐺𝑠 =
𝑚𝑝,𝑤 − (𝑚𝑝,𝑠,𝑤 − 𝑚𝑠 )
𝑚𝑝 : Mass of empty Pycnometer.
𝑚𝑠 : Is mass of solid dry sand?
𝑚𝑝,𝑤 : Mass of water and Pycnometer.
𝑚𝑝,𝑠 : Mass of sand and Pycnometer.
𝑚𝑝,𝑠,𝑤 : Mass of Pycnometersand and water.
Specimen Number a b c

𝑚𝑝 (mass of empty bottle) gr 38.4 39 41.2

𝑚𝑝,𝑠 (mass of bottle and dry soil) gr 70.8 96.9 85.4

𝑚𝑝,𝑠,𝑤 (bottle +dry soil+ water) gr 160.9 176.7 171.1

𝑚𝑝,𝑤 (bottle + water) gr 140.1 140.4 143.1

𝑚𝑠 (mass of solid dry sand) 32.4 57.9 44.2

𝐺𝑆 (specific gravity) 2.79 2.68 2.73

Gs.1=2.79
Gs.2=2.68
Gs.3=2.73
𝐺𝑠.1+𝐺𝑠.2+𝐺𝑠.3
𝑇ℎ𝑒 𝑎𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑎𝑔𝑒 = = 2.73
3

Discussion & Discussion:

specific gravity of soils (average) will show us what type of soil we have, by
using standard table.

In this experiment we got specific gravity = 2,73 which is mean that our soil is
inorganic clay.