specific gravity

[Candice]

Sorry for this stupid question. What is specific gravity? What is the physical meaning if a fluid has a specific gravity of 0.835 Max at 15 deg Celcius?

 

[TD2K]

Specific gravity is the ratio of the density of the substance in question to water. Since water is still pretty close to 1000 kg/m3 at 15C, a specific gravity of 0.835 simply means that its density is 835 kg/m3.

The max likely means that the fluid's density varies somewhat (like for diesel which is a mixture of different hydrocarbons) but won't exceed 835 kg/m3.

 

[Candice]

Thanks TD2K, you are so kind!

 

[mufasa1]

quote:

Specific Gravity is,
The ratio of the weight of anything to the weight of water.
For example
water is 8.34lbs/gal
its specific gravity is 1.

HCL is 10.0 lbs/gal
its specific gravity is
Specific Gravity of HCl = Weight of HCl (/) Weight of Water = 10.0 (/) 8.34 = 1.2

 

[quark]

mufasa!

ain't it specific weight?

Regards,



Truth: Even the hardest of the problems will have atleast one simple solution. Mine may not be one.

 

[TD2K]

One more point that I missed last night, specific gravity is also used with gases.

For a gas, it's almost always the ratio of the gas's molecular weight to air (I use 28.96) but I've seen it sometimes referenced as the density of the gas at its temperature and pressure divided by the density of air at the same temperature and pressure. The latter is much less common in my experience.