DEPARTMENT OF MECHANICAL ENGINEERING

MEng 139 - Mechanical Engineering Laboratory I

Laboratory Report No. 4
Second Semester, A.Y. 2020 - 2021

Name: Flores, Jenalyn Course & Year: BSME III

Specific Gravity

Introduction

The experiment is about finding the specific gravity. Specific gravity or relative density
is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of a standard, usually water for a liquid
or solid (Oxford Languages). The required experiment is not using an object to find its specific
gravity but rather a human body. The importance of having the specific gravity of a certain
object will determine the fluid's characteristics compared to a standard.

Experimental Procedure

Performing the experiment needs first to prepare the following materials:

 A human body (student’s nephew)
 Water
 Steel tape measure
 Container
 Mini-swimming pool

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 The student experimented and recorded the values needed for determining the specific
gravity of the human child. First, the student filled the mini-swimming pool with water. Due to
limited resources the volume of the water in the mini-swimming pool was also computed. The
human body that was being experimented is a child since the student could not be fitted in the
mini-swimming pool and looking for a bigger container was difficult. Next, the student guided
the child to gently went in to the mini-swimming pool. Then, the student instructed the child to
slowly submerged into the water. There was spilled water during the submersion. After the
child was fully submerged into the water, the spilled of water was received by the standby
container beside the mini-swimming pool and was set aside for later use. Please refer to figure
1 to have a clearer illustration such as finding the volume of the water and so on.

49 cm

65 cm

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Laws and Theories

Finding the specific gravity or relative density of substance is directly proportional to the
density of a substance and inversely proportional to the density standard/reference. In symbol:
𝜌𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑆𝐺 =
𝜌𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑

Where: SG = specific gravity of the object/substance

ρ = density of the object/substance

This was based on Archimedes’ principle which states that the buoyant force of an object is
equal to the weight of fluid it displaces.

Prior to specific gravity, this will tell if the substance has specific gravity less than one it will
float otherwise if it is greater than one it will sink.

Results and Discussion

Significant figures that can be used for the experiment is as follows:

mHuman = 22 kg
VHuman = 159. 25 m3
VH2O = L x W x H = 65 cm x 49 cm x 34 cm = 108290 cm = 1082.90 m3
ρH20 = 1000 kg/m3

Since, specific gravity of the human is required. There some relevant computations to solve
it. And the formula to be used is:
𝜌𝑠𝑢𝑏𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒
𝑆𝐺 =
𝜌𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑑𝑎𝑟𝑑
𝝆𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏
𝑺𝑮𝑯𝒖𝒎𝒂𝒏 =
𝝆𝑯𝟐𝑶

First thing that was done is to find the density of the human child using:

𝑚𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 22 𝑘𝑔
𝜌𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 = = = 𝟎. 𝟏𝟑𝟖𝟏𝟒𝟕𝟓𝟔𝟔𝟕 𝒌𝒈/𝒎𝟑
𝑉𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 159.25 𝑚3

Based on the computed density of the human, the student can tell that the human child
is less dense than the water since he has a density of less than one.

Then, the student can now proceed to solving the specific gravity of the child.

𝜌𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 0.1381475667 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

𝑆𝐺𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 = = = 𝟎. 𝟎𝟎𝟎𝟏𝟑𝟖
𝜌𝐻2𝑂 1000 𝑘𝑔/𝑚3

Based on the computation, it was found out that the specific gravity of the human child
is less than one.

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Calculating the percent error will be:
𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑢𝑟𝑒𝑑 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒 − 𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒
% 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | 𝑥 100
𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑢𝑎𝑙 𝑣𝑎𝑙𝑢𝑒

Let:
VHuman = measured value
VH2O = actual value

𝑉𝐻𝑢𝑚𝑎𝑛 − 𝑉𝐻2𝑂 159.25 − 1082.90

% 𝐸𝑟𝑟𝑜𝑟 = | | 𝑥 100 = | | 𝑥 100 = 𝟖𝟓 %
𝑉𝐻2𝑂 1802.90

Conclusions

From the data gathered, the student concludes that the human child will float since he
has specific gravity of less than one. And the student also thinks that it has something to do
with the weight of the child. If the weight is somewhat heavier, the specific gravity of a human
body of an adult would be close to one and would have acquired lesser percent error compared
to human body of a child.

References
1. https://courses.lumenlearning.com/physics/chapter/11-7-archimedes-
principle/#:~:text=surface%20and%20float.-
,If%20the%20buoyant%20force%20is%20less%20than,weight%2C%20the%20o
bject%20will%20sink.&text=Archimedes'%20principle%20states%20that%20the,
a%20fluid%20(usually%20water).
2. https://sciencing.com/what-specific-gravity-4708148.html
3. https://www.astm.org/Standards/D1429.htm

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