Density of a Liquid

The Density of a Liquid calculator computes the density of a liquid based on its volume and mass.

INSTRUCTIONS: Choose units and enter the following:

• (m) Mass of Liquid
• (V)  Volume of Liquid

Density of Liquid (ρ):  The density is returned in grams per cubic centimeter.  However this can be automatically converted to compatible units via the pull-down menu.

The Math / Science

Density is the ratio of mass to volume. A familiar demonstration of density is the attempt to mix water and oil. Oil floats on water because, in addition to not mixing with water, oil has a low density compared to water. That is, given equal volumes of the two liquids, the oil will have a smaller mass than the water. Density is calculated with this equation.

`rho` = m/V

where 

• `rho` is the greek symbol often used for density, 
• m is the mass, and 
• V is the volume.

**written by Hunter Metcalfe

Density is a very important metric in chemistry because we are often concerned with the relative proximity of atoms or molecules. Dense matter has very tightly packed molecules and correspondingly stronger bonds between atoms relatively speaking.  Density is also important in many cases for computing the amount of a substance that is needed to contribute a certain number of moles (quantity of atoms or molecules) to a chemical reaction.

NOTE: Identify possible substances based on the density by CLICKING HERE.