Pycnometer is a very precise method used for measuring the density of substances in the gaseous, liquid and solid states. It can help quantify the buoyancy of a substance in a fluid or used to determine the density of a liquid such as water, by filling the bottle with the liquid and then weighing it.
Pycnometer bottles differ depending on the material and the size of sample chambers and perform most of its analyses in minutes to provide accurate information and a host of content calculation profiles. The benefit of using a pycnometer, is its speed and precision to time-critical laboratory processes as well as reporting time and productivity.
The Pycnometer which comes from the Greek word ‘Puknos’, meaning “density”, and also referred to as Pyknometer or specific gravity monitor bottle. The Pycnometer is a flask/bottle with a tight-fitting, round glass stopper which has a very fine hole through it, so that a true accurate volume reading can be made. The Pycnometer enables the accurate measuring of the density of fluids such as mercury and water.
If you weigh the pycnometer empty, full of water, and then full of a liquid whose specific gravity is recorded, then the accurate calculation of the specific gravity can be read. In addition to measuring liquids, it is possible to measure the particle density of powders using the pycnometer which usually would not be possible using the usual method.
To start with you would add the powder to the pycnometer which you would then weigh, you would then proceed to fill the pycnometer with a known density liquid, of one in which is completely insoluble with the powder. From this the weight of the displaced liquid can now be measured accurately giving you the specific gravity of the powder.
Determining the density of liquid by using a pycnometer is a very precise method. It makes use of a working liquid which has a known density for example water.
