Pharmaceutical Calculations: Density,

Specific Gravity, and Specific Volume

Objectives
• Define density, specific gravity, and specific volume and determine each
through appropriate calculations
• Apply specific gravity correctly in converting weight to volume
and volume to weight
• Calculate specific gravity from data derived from the use of a pycnometer.
Density
• Mass per unit volume of a substance
• Most often expressed as g/mL

Density = Mass
Volume
Density Example
• If 10 mL of sulfuric acid weighs 18 g, what is its density?

Density = 18 g
10 mL
= 1.8
g/mL
Specific Gravity
• Ratio of a weight of substance to a weight of equal volume of standard
(usually water)

• Expressed without units

Specific Gravity = Weight of substance

Weight of equal vol. water

• Substances that have a specific gravity less than 1 are lighter than
water.

• Substances that have a specific gravity greater than 1 are heavier than
water.
Specific Gravity
The figure below depicts the layering of immiscible liquids due to their relative weights.
Specific Gravity
SPECIFIC GRAVITIES AT 25℃
Ether (at 20℃) 0.71
Isopropyl alcohol 0.78
Acetone 0.79
Alcohol 0.81
Liquid petrolatum
0.87
Peppermint oil 0.90
Olive oil 0.91
Peanut oil 0.92
Cod liver oil 0.92
Castor oil 0.96
Water 1.00
Propylene glycol
1.03
Clove oil 1.04
Liquefied phenol
1.07
Polysorbate 80
1.08
Polyethylene
glycol 400 1.13
Glycerin 1.25
Syrup 1.31
Hydrochloric
acid 1.37
Nitric acid 1.42
Chloroform 1.47
Nitroglycerin
Specific Gravity Example
• If 54.96 mL of an oil weighs 52.78 g, what is the specific gravity of that
oil?

Specific Gravity = 52.78 g oil

54.96 g water

*why 54.96 g of water? Because 54.96 mL of water weighs 54.96 g (specific

gravity of 1)
Pycnometer or Specific Gravity Bottle
• A pycnometer is a special glass bottle used to determine specific
gravity
• In using a pycnometer, it is first weighed empty and then weighed
again when filled to capacity with water.
• The weight of the water is calculated by difference.
• Since 1 g of water equals 1 mL, the exact volume of the pycnometer
becomes known.
• Then, when any other liquid subsequently is placed in the pycnometer,
it is of equal volume to the water, and its specific gravity may be
determined.
Pycnometer or Specific Gravity Bottle
Example:
A 50 mL pycnometer is found to weigh 120 g when empty, 171 g when filled
with water, and 160g when filled with an unknown liquid. Calculate the
specific gravity of the unknown liquid.

Weight of water: 171 g - 120 g = 51 g

Weight of unknown liquid: 160 g - 120 g = 40 g

Specific gravity = Weight of substance

Weight of equal volume of water

Specific gravity of unknown liquid =40 (g)

51 (g)

=0.78, answer.
Specific Volume

• Specific volume, in pharmaceutical practice, is

usually defined as an abstract number
representing the ratio, expressed decimally, of
the
• volume of a substance to the volume of an equal
weight of another substance taken as a
standard (usually water), both having the same
temperature.
Specific Volume Example
If 25 g of glycerin measures 20 mL and the standard for comparison is (25
g) water, what is the specific volume of glycerin?

Specific Volume=20 mL glycerin

25 mL water

= 0.8
Clinical Applications

Specific gravity is an important factor in urinalysis.

• In normal adults (1.010 and 1.025) with a normal fluid
intake.
• Specific gravity is an indicator of both the concentration
of particles in the urine and a patient’s degree of
hydration.
• Higher-than-normal specific gravity
• urine is concentrated.
• excess waste products or electrolytes in the urine
• presence of glucose (glucosuria) or protein
(proteinuria)
• excessive water loss
• decreased fluid intakes.
Clinical Applications
• A low specific gravity indicates that;
• urine is dilute
• diabetes insipidus
• renal disease
• increased fluid intake
• intravenous hydration

• In the modern clinical laboratory, the specific gravity of urine is

determined (using the refractive index method) as a component of a
comprehensive urinalysis performed by sophisticated, fully automated
equipment that determines, in seconds, urine chemistry, specific
gravity, pH, color, and clarity
Practice problems
• What is the volume, in pints, of 50 lbs of glycerin having a specific
gravity of 1.25?
• What is the weight, in grams, of 3620 mL of alcohol with a
specific gravity of 0.820?
• A piece of copper metal weighs 53.6 g and has a volume
of 6 mL. Calculate its density.
• If 380 g of cottonseed oil measures 415 mL, what is its specific
gravity
• If chloroform has a specific gravity of 1.476, what is its specific
volume?
• What is the weight, in pounds, of 5 pints of nitric acid?
• How many grams of dextrose are contained in a 250 mL
intravenous infusion of a dextrose injection containing 60 g of
dextrose per 100 mL if its specific gravity is 1.20?
• If fifty glycerin suppositories are made from the following formula, how
many milliliters of glycerin, having a specific gravity of 1.25, would be
used in the preparation of 96 suppositories?
• Glycerin 91 g
• Sodium stearate 9g
• Purified water 5g

Glycerin,USP (specific gravity 1.25) costs $54.25 per pound. If

students in a dispensing laboratory use 1 pint of glycerin in
preparing compounded prescriptions, what is the cost of the
glycerin used?
Reference
• Ansel, H. C. (2009) Phamaceutical (13th Ed.).
Calculations
Philadelphia:Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, and Wolters
Kluwer Publishers