Specific Gravity

Definition: Specific Gravity

Specific Gravity

Noun

1. The density of a substance relative to the density of water.

Domain	Definition
Food & Agriculture	The weight of a given volume of must or wine at a specified temperature(usually 15o C or 20o C)divided by the weight of the same volume of pure water at the same temperature or at 4o C. In expressing specific gravity it is necessary to indicate the temperature at which measurements are made. Source: European Union. (references)
	As applied to wood, the ratio of the oven-dry weight of a sample to the weight of a volume of water equal to the volume of the sample at some specific moisture content, e. g. green, air-dry or oven-dry. Source: European Union. (references)
Industry	Ratio between weight of given volume of rubber compound and weight of same volume of water. Source: European Union. (references)
Mechanical Engineering	The ratio of the mass of a given volume of a substance to the mass of an equal volume of water, usually at 4 degree C. Source: European Union. (references)
Meteorology & Standards	Density is the mass of a body per unit of volume. It is expressed in pounds per cubic foot or in kilograms per cubic meter or cubic decimeter, or in g/cm3. Specific gravity** is the weight of a body per unit of volume, if expressed in pound-force per cubic foot or in kilogram-force per cubic decimeter it is numerically equal to the corresponding value of the density. Source: European Union. (references)
Mining	A. The ratio between the weight of a unit volume of a substance and that of some other standard substance, under standard conditions of temperature and pressure. For solids and liquids, the specific gravity is based upon water as the standard. The true specific gravity of a body is based on the volume of solid material, excluding all pores. The bulk or volume specific gravity is based upon the volume as a whole--i.e., the solid material with all included pores. The apparent specific gravity is based upon the volume of the solid material plus the volume of the sealed pores. See also:apparent specific gravity b. Ratio of densities of a gas and air, based on dry air = 1 c. The weight of a substance compared with the weight of an equal volume of pure water at 4 degrees C. Specific gravity is numerically equal todensity given in grams per cubic centimeter or milliliter. CF:density. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specific gravity is a measure of the density of a material. It is dimensionless, equal to the density of the material divided by the density of water.

Since water's density is one gram per cubic centimeter (under standard conditions), specific gravity has the same value as density expressed in grams per cubic centimeter.

Specific gravity is often used by geologists and mineralogists to help determine the mineral content of a rock or other sample. Gemmologists use it as an aid in the identification of gems. The reason that specific gravity is measured in terms of the density of water is because that that is the easiest way to measure it in the field. Basically, density is defined as the mass of a sample divided by it's volume. With an irregularly shaped rock, the volume can be very difficult to accurately measure. About the most accurate way would be to put it in a graduated cylinder that has water in it an see how much water it displaced. Even this method can be rather inaccurate, though, since it is easy to accidentally spill some water. It is far easier to simply suspend the sample from a spring scale and weigh it under water. Solving Newton's equations yields the following formula for measuring specific gravity:

where G is the specific gravity, W is the weight of the sample (measured in pounds, Newtons, or some other force), and F is the force measured while the sample was submerged. Note that it is tricky to measure specific gravities less than one because in order to do so the sign of F must change, meaning that you would have to supply a downward force to keep the sample underwater.

Context	Synonyms within Context (source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus).
Density	Specific gravity; hydrometer, areometer.
Gravity	Noun: gravity, gravitation; weight; heaviness. Adjective: specific gravity; pondorosity, pressure, load; burden, burthen; ballast, counterpoise; lump of, mass of, weight of.
Source: adapted from Roget's Thesaurus.

Crosswords: Specific Gravity

English words defined with "specific gravity": Areometer, Areometry ♦ dense, densimeter, densitometer ♦ Galactometer, Gleucometer, Glucinum, gravimeter, gravimetry ♦ Heavy solution, hydrometer, Hydrometrical, hydrometry ♦ Lactometer, light, Litraneter, low-density ♦ Microlite ♦ Poluria, Pycnometer ♦ Specific volume, Stereometer ♦ Urinometer, Urinometry. (references)

Specialty definitions using "specific gravity": apparent specific gravity. (references)

Domain	Usage
Clever	The burdens of the world on my back lightens the world not one whit, while removing them greatly decreases my specific gravity. (references; author: unknown)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Domain	Title
References	The World Market for Siliceous Fossil Meals (Kieselguhr, Tripolite and Diatomite) and Similar Siliceous Earths of a Specific Gravity of Not over 1: A 2004 Global Trade Perspective (reference) (more reference examples)

Books	Test Methods for Specific Gravity (Relative Density and Density of Plastics by Displacement) (reference) (more book examples)
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Thumbnail	Description & Credit	Thumbnail	Description & Credit
	Eight-foot mercury barometer and water pumping demonstration from four-story house proving law that height of fluids raised by suction or pressure varies inversely to its specific gravity. Credit: Library of Congress.		The specific gravity of "soap" oil is determined. "Soap" oil is obtained by extraction with a solvent from the cake which remains after the first two pressings. One third of our total consumption of fats and oils is for non-food uses. Eighteen percent of. Credit: Library of Congress.
Source: pictures compiled by the editor from various references; see picture credits.

Title	Author	Quote
Les Miserables	Hugo, Victor	Their specific gravity in the human race results from something more than a combat.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references.

Subject	Topic	Quote
Health		Therefore, the salt and waste concentrations are low, and the amount of water excreted is high. A physician evaluates the concentration of urine by testing its specific gravity or osmolality. (references)
Source: compiled by the editor from ICON Group International, Inc.; see credits.

The following statistics estimate the number of searches per day across the major English-language search engines as identified by various trade publications. Hyperlinks lead to commercial use of the expression at Amazon.com.

Language		Translations for "specific gravity"; alternative meanings/domain in parentheses.
Arabic		‏الثقل النوعي (gravity). (various references)

Bulgarian		относително тегло (density). (various references)

Chinese		�"重 (proportion). (various references)

Czech		specifická váha, mìrná tíha. (various references)

Danish		specifik tyngdekraft (weight density), specifik masse-eller vægtfylde, rumvaegt (sp.gr.), relativ massetoethed, relativ massefylde, massefylde (density, mass density, mass per unit volume, relative density, rho), densitet (density, mass per unit volume, profusion, relative density, rho). (various references)

Dutch		soortelijk gewicht (density, relative density, sp.gr., weight density), dichtheid (abundance, compactness, consolidation, density, level of compaction, mass per unit volume, optimum density, quality, relative density, rho, sett, state of compaction, tightness). (various references)

Finnish		ominaispaino. (various references)

French		densité (sp.gr.). (various references)

German		spezifisches Gewicht (SpGr, weight density), sp.Gew. (SpGr), SG (canton of St.Gall, Republic of Singapore, Singapore, SpGr), Wichte (density, wights), Rohdichte bezogen auf die Darrmasse (S.G., sp.gr.), relative Dichte, Gewichtsverhältnis, Dichte (closeness, compactness, densely, denseness, densities, density, romanced, thickness, tightness). (various references)

Greek		πυκνότητα (capacitor, closeness, consistence, consistency, density, thickness), ειδικόν βάρος (S.G., sp.gr.), ειδικό βάρος (mass per unit volume, rho, weight density). (various references)

Hebrew		משקל ס�'ולי. (various references)

Hungarian		fajsúly. (various references)

Italian		peso specifico (own weight). (various references)

Japanese Kanji		�"重 . (various references)

Japanese Katakana		ひじゅう. (various references)

Manx		trimmid er lheh. (various references)

Pig Latin		ecificspay avitygray

Portuguese		densidade (body, density, thickness). (various references)

Russian		удельный вес. (various references)

Serbo-Croatian		specifična težina. (various references)

Spanish		peso específico (S.G., sp.gr., SpGr, weight density). (various references)

Swedish		densitet (density). (various references)

Turkish		özgül ağırlık (specific weight). (various references)
Source: compiled by the editor from various translation references.

Misspellings
	"Specific Gravity" is suggested in spellcheckers for the following: specifc gravity, specufic gravity. (additional references)
Source: compiled by the editor, based on several corpora (additional references).

Scrabble® Enable2K-Verified Anagrams
	Words within the letters "a-c-c-e-f-g-i-i-i-p-r-s-t-v-y"
	-4 letters: specificity.
	-5 letters: accipiters, ascriptive, cervicitis, epigastric, fricatives, pacificist, pacifistic.
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits. SCRABBLE® is a registered trademark. All intellectual property rights in and to the game are owned in the U.S.A and Canada by Hasbro Inc., and throughout the rest of the world by J.W. Spear & Sons Limited of Maidenhead, Berkshire, England, a subsidiary of Mattel Inc. Mattel and Spear are not affiliated with Hasbro.

Expression	Frequency per Day
specific gravity	209
urine specific gravity	22
specific gravity table	10
specific gravity meter	3
Source: compiled by the editor from various references; see credits.

Specific Gravity

Definition: Specific Gravity