If a mineral has a specific gravity of 7.0. What does this mean?

1 Answer
Jan 28, 2016

It means that the mineral is 7.0 times more dense than water at #4^@C#.

Explanation:

The specific gravity (also called relative density) of a material is a ratio of the density of that material to the density of water at #4^@C#, which is the temperature at which water has its maximum density.
Density itself is defined as mass per unit volume : #rho=m/V#.

#thereforeSG=rho_(rel)=(rho_s)/(rho_(water at 4^@C)#.