Introduction:

Specific gravity (Gs) of a given material is defined as the ratio of the mass of a given volume
of soil to the mass of an equal volume of water, at a stated temperature. In other words,
specific gravity defines how heavy is the material compared to water. Knowing the specific
gravity of a given soil is very important because the value is used in various calculations in
soil mechanics.

unit weight ( ¿ density ) of soil solids only ρ s Ms

Gs = = =
unit weight ( ¿ density ) of water ρw V s × ρ w

The specific gravity of some common minerals is shown in Table 2.1. And as stated, specific
gravity of most minerals varies between 2.6 and 2.9. The objective of this lab is to calculate
the specific gravity of a given soil sample using the ASTM D 854 method and then compare
it to the values found in table 2.1.

Table 2.1: Typical values of Specific Gravity for various soil types.
Soil type Range of Gs
Sand 2.63-2.67
Silts 2.65-2.70
Clay and silty clay 2.67-2.90
Organic soil Less than 2.00

The temperature of the 3 test samples is 25℃, therefore, a correction is utilized to adjust the
specific gravity at a reference temperature (T = 20℃). The correction factors (A) of some
temperatures are shown in table 2.2.

Table 2.2: Correction factor of common temperatures.

Temperature (℃) A Temperature (℃) A
16 1.0007 23 0.9993
17 1.0006 24 0.9991
18 1.0004 25 0.9988
19 1.0002 26 0.9986
20 1.0000 27 0.9983
21 0.9998 28 0.9980
22 0.9996 29 0.9977
Equipment:
 Vacuum pump
 Thermometer
 Funnel
 Electronic scale
 Evaporating dish
 Distilled water
 500 ml volumetric flask
 Spatula
 Plastic squeeze bottle
 Drying oven

Soil sample:
 100 grams of Sand.

Procedure:
1. Clean the volumetric flask well and dry it.
2. Fill the 500 ml flask with distilled water to 500 ml limit line and record mass (M1)
3. Record temperature of water in degrees Celsius (T1).
4. Pour 2/3 of water back into distilled water container.
5. Weigh out about 100g (Ms) of the dry sand soil and transfer to flask.
6. Add distilled water to flask to make about 2/3 full.
7. Remove air from soil-mixture by applying partial vacuum (13.3 kPaor100mm Hg
max. absolute) for 15-20 minutes.
8. Add distilled water to 500 ml line and record mass (M2)

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Data:

Replicate Temperature (℃) M1 (g) M2 (g) Ms (g)

1 25.0 672.4 738.0 105.4
2 25.0 669.5 729.0 95.7
3 25.0 675.6 744.4 110.5
Table 2.3: Test Data

Note:
 M1 = mass of flask + water filled to mark.
 M2 = mass of flask + soil + water filled to mark.
 Ms = mass of dry soil.

Discussion:
Table 2.4: Test Results.
Test No.
Item
1 2 3
Temperature (℃) 25 25 25
Mass of Flask + water, M 1 (g) 672.4 669.5 675.6
Mass of Flask + water + soil, M 2 (g) 738 729 744.4
Mass of dry soil, M s (g) 105.4 95.7 110.5
Mass of displaced water by soil, M w (g) 39.8 36.2 41.7
Uncorrected Specific Gravity, Gs 2.65 2.64 2.65
Correction factor 20 ℃ 0.9988 0.9988 0.9988
Gs (at 20℃ ) 2.65 2.64 2.65
Average Gs (at 20℃) 2.64

We have conducted the experiment on a sample of sand, and when referring to the table 2.1,
specific gravity of sand varies from 2.63 to 2.67. We found that the specific gravity of the
three tests was almost identical, and the average of the specific gravity was 2.64 which falls
between 2.63 and 2.67. If the sample of sand contained high organic matter, the value of the
specific gravity would have been less than 2.63. in addition, If the sample of sand contained
high silt and/or clay soils, the value of the specific gravity would have been more than 2.67.
In the procedure of this experiment, it is critical to remove the entrapped-air from the soil-
water mixture because most of the errors in the calculated results are due to entrapped-air.
Entrapped-air removal can be done by either applying the right amount of vacuum or gently
boiling the flask for up to 20 minutes. Applying excess vacuum may damage the flask. It is
essential for the value of the specific gravity of a specific soil to be accurate because it will be

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used in further calculations that relate to that soil. These include soil mineral classification as
some minerals have different values of specific gravity than others. It is also used in the
weight-volume relationships calculations. Furthermore, knowing the specific gravity makes it
easy to identify whether the material is suitable for construction purposes or not. Usually,
higher specific gravity means more strength. When calculating the specific gravity, the results
were corrected to the reference temperature of 20℃. The value of 0.9988 from table 2.2 was
used as the correction factor.

Conclusion:
In this lab, we calculated the specific gravity of 100-gram sand sample 3 times using the
ASTM D 854; AASHTO T 85 test protocol. We concluded that the calculated specific
gravity of the sand sample falls within range compared to the values of the specific gravity
found in table 2.1. Calculating the value of the specific gravity accurately is very important,
therefore, all errors must be accounted for and eliminated. We removed the entrapped air
from the soil-water mixture using the vacuum to minimize the error. Finally, this experiment
was a success and the values of the specific gravity calculated can be used in further
calculations and analysis.

Sample calculations:

Figure 1: Test No.1 sample calculations.

References:

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 Braja M. Das (2002). SOIL MECHANICS LABORATORY MANUAL 6th edition.