#Density of water in gl how to#

In practice though, both terms appear to be used interchangeably and both are also used for situations where the reference substance is not water. They argue that relative density is a more general concept, where the reference substance can be something else than water. Some say that specific gravity only concerns cases where water is the reference substance, and that specific gravity is therefore a special case of relative density. And that’s no doubt the reason why many prefer the term relative density. It indeed has much more to do with density. Why did we do this? Well, to get a chance to clarify the terminology! Specific gravity is a somewhat unfortunate historic choice of wording as the concept is not as strongly related to gravity as this term suggests. We purposely titled this page “How to calculate specific gravity?” even though the term relative density is nowadays often preferred. Be aware that relative density and specific gravity are different terms for the same concept.Conversely, if we find a specific gravity lower than 1, the object will float on water. If water is the reference substance, an object with specific gravity higher than 1 will sink in water. And that number can tell us something about the expected behavior of certain objects. As such, we express specific gravity as a number without any units (it’s a dimensionless quantity). Keep in mind though that specific gravity itself is not a measure of density! It’s merely a ratio between two densities. In that case, specific gravity indicates the density of a substance relative to the density of water. Very often, that reference substance is water. Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a reference substance. So, let’s start with a definition and a very brief explanation.

#Density of water in gl how to#

Follow the steps and learn how to calculate specific gravity!Īlthough it’s possible to calculate specific gravity (relative density) while having only a vague idea of what it is, it’s obviously better to fully understand it.