Specific gravity
This is an old revision of this page, as edited by DavidE (talk | contribs) at 21:15, January 25, 2012. It may differ significantly from current revision.
It has been suggested that this article or section be merged with [[::density|density]]. (Discuss)
Specific gravity is a property of any given sample of matter, defined as the ratio of its density to that of water at a given temperature. It is thus dimensionless.
Substances are denser than water if they have a specific gravity greater than 1, and less dense if it is less than 1. However, it does not follow that water has a specific gravity of 1, since the density of water varies according to the temperature.
The use of specific gravity is generally discouraged in present-day scientific and technical writing, with absolute values of density preferred.