MadSci Network: Chemistry |
Fortunatly for you, figuring out the specific gravity of a liquid is fairly easy. I will first start with a definition of specific gravity which I found at the following web site: http://www.polymerland.com/technical/tip97jun.html SPECIFIC GRAVITY DEFINITION: Specific Gravity is the ratio of the density of a material as compared to the density of water at standard atmospheric pressure (1 ATM) and room temperature (73F). Because it is a ratio, it has no units of measure. However, since the density of water (at STP) is 1 gram/cm3, the density of the material being considered is the same as its specific gravity when working in SI units. For instance, a material with a specific gravity of 1.05 has a density of 1.05 gm/cm3 (.0378 lbs./in3). To calculate the specific gravity of shampoo, you would need a container of known volume and an analytical balance. If you do not have access to an analytical balance you could probably visit any reputable jewelers and ask to use their's as long as you explain what it's for (analytical balances are also used for illegal purposes). What you would do is to weigh the container of known volume. You would then add a known volume of the liquid that you would like to the specific gravity. After you have the two weights, you would subtract the weight of just the container from the combined weight of the container and liquid. This leaves you with the weight of the liquid. You can then take this weight and divide it by the volume of liquid you had in your container. This final result gives you the specific gravity if you use SI units, which would be grams and milliliters in this case. If you would like to know how to measure the specific gravity of solids, I would visit the site below for plans on building a simple scale to measure specific gravity. http://www.internet1.net/~dlclark/scale.htm
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