Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Specific Gravity Test: 1. Objective
Specific Gravity Test: 1. Objective
Specific Gravity Test: 1. Objective
1. Objective:
This test was carried out to determine the specific gravity, Gs of a soil sample.
Specific gravity is defined as the ratio of mass of particles to the mass of water that
displace at some standard temperature and therefore, dimensionaless.
2. Sample Description
Sample was taken by rotary boring machine with stainless steel thin wall tube
(according to ASTM D-1587) about two weeks before the laboratory test. Sample was
coated in a special wax just a few hours before the test was conducted. Since it had just
been coated before the test, the sample had never experienced store room preservation.
Location of the sample is on AIT campus at depth of 4.5 - 5 m from the in situ
ground surface. As it is the 5th sample, with approximately 12 cm deep each, better depth
estimation is 4.6 m. from local ground surface.
The physical appearance of sample is varied from dark grey clay with slightly mix
of fine grained sand.
3. Apparatus
1. Volumatric Flask
2. Thermometer
3. Balance sensitive up to 0.1 g.
4. Vacuum pump and hot plate
5. Spatula
6. Plastic squeeze bottle
7. Oven
8. Stove
4. Procedure
Calibration of volumetric flask procedure
1. Weight clean dry volumetric flask
2. Fill distill water up to ¾ of the height of the flask
3. Remove air in distilled water by vacuum pump for at least 30 mins and
then heat the water for at least 5 mins.
4. Bring the temperature of the water in flask down until 40°C (approx).
5. Slowly and carefully fill de-aired water up to the mark of flask to avoid the
entrapment of air bubbles in the water.
6. Make the temperature to uniform by agitating or rolling the flask.
7. Weight the flask with water, record the temperature (record 4-5 values by
varied temperature)
The average value of specific gravity, Gs is 2.68. Refer to the soils sample is clay.
From our experiment we calculated Gs = 2.68 may not perfectly correct because Gs varies
from 2.68 to 2.80. The ambiguity of these might results from the errors that occurred
We can calculate the specific gravity for the certain soil sample. The formula
WS
GS GT is correct and applicable. The specific gravity is important for
W1 W2 WS
determination of the different kind of soil parameters. For example the degree of
7. Appendix
Example of Calculation
WS
Specific Gravity GS GT
W1 W2 WS
91.89
Hence G S 0.996 = 2.68
674.73 732.48 91.89
There might be some errors occur in the process of carried out the experiment. We
- The time of leaving the volumetric flask in the vacuum is not long enough to take
- Air bubbles might trap in the volumetric flask when the bottle is filled with distilled
water.
- Make sure the inner surface of the volumetric flask is dried and cleaned properly
before the experiment start.
- Wind from natural, fan or air – condition can disturb balance to show
- Flask and thermometer are broken able, so be highly careful when carry
- Leave the volumetric flask filled with soil and distilled water long enough
to make sure the air trapped in the soil is taken out.
8. References