Density & Gravity -Basic Civil Engineering

Any material that we use in building construction has some
properties like density,specific gravity, its unit of
measurement and their mixing
ratio etc. we will discuss them in the tables given below :-

Density 

 It is defined as the ratio of mass and volume is called density. It is measures in kg/m3. In
below table we will discuss density of some building materials. The symbol of density is row (p)

Density of various building materials

S.NO
Name of material
Density in kg/m3
1.
CEMENT
1440
2.
LIME
640
3.
CONCRETE(P.C.C)
2400
4.
CONCRETE (R.C.C)
2500
5.
STEEL
7850
6.
BRICK
1500-1800
7.
ASPHALT
721
8.
LEAD
11400
9.
COPPER
8950
10.
IRON
7850
11.
GLASS
2580
12.
SOIL
1800-2000
13.
SILT
2100
14.
ROCKS
2600-2800
15.
WOOD
400-700
16.
AIR
1.2
If the density of any building material is high its
indicates that the molecular particles present in it are full compacted and if
the density of any building material is less its indicates that it’s not a
dense structure.

Why wooden float on water

As you know the floating properties also depend upon the
density of a building materials. Suppose the density of a material is less than
the density of water it will be float on the surface and if the density of any material
is greater than water then it will be drowned or sink in water.

Example

The density of a wood
is about 400 to 700 kg/m3
and the density of water is 1000 kg/m3 because of which the wood
floats in water
.  Another example: Density of steel is 7850 kg/m3
that is too much of the density of water, so it gets drowned or sink in water.

Specific Gravity 

Specific Gravity :- It is the ratio of the density of a substance to the density of the reference substance. In case of mass specific gravity is the ratio of the mass of a substance to the mass of the reference substance. Specific gravity is a dimensionless quantity or no unit of measurement and measured in numbers 

S.no
Name of material
Specific gravity
1.
Mercury
13.6
2.
Pure water
1
3.
Sea water
1.02
4.
Linseed oil
0.9
5.
Gravels
1.9
6.
Sand
2.6 to 2.8
7.
Silt
2.4 to 2.92
8.
Organic clay
1.98
9.
Inorganic clay
2.6 to 2.8
10.
LDPE Sheet
0.92
11.
HDPE Sheet
0.95
12.
Brick
1.98
13.
Milk
0.93
14.
Glass
2.58
15.
Cement
3.15
16.
Iron
7.7

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