How to Calculate Densities at

Various Temperatures
By Athena Hessong; Updated May 22, 2018
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To discover how temperature affects the density of a fluid substance, use one of two
methods depending on the fluid you wish to measure. For gases, use an adaptation of
the Ideal Gas Law, which, when rewritten, provides an equation for density based on
temperature and pressure. For other fluids, such as water or alcohol, you must use
more information to find their densities at various temperatures. When you have all of
the information required for the calculation, solving it just takes a little math.

Find the Density of Liquids

Subtract Final Temperature
Subtract the final temperature in degrees Celsius from the initial temperature in degrees
Celsius. For instance, a final temperature of 20 degrees C and an initial temperature of
30 degrees Celsius yields a difference of: 30 degrees C – 20 degrees C = 10 degrees
C.

Multiply Temperature Difference

Multiply this temperature difference by the volumetric temperature expansion coefficient
for the substance being measured, then add one to this number. For water, use its
volumetric temperature expansion coefficient (0.0002 m3/m3 degrees C) and multiply it
by the temperature difference, which is 10 degrees C in this example. Work out 0.0002
x 10 = 0.002. Add one to this number to get: 1 + 0.002 = 1.002.

Find Final Density

Divide the initial density of the fluid by this number to find the final density at the new
temperature. If the initial density of the water was 1000 kg/m3, divide this by 1.002 to
find the final density: 1000 ÷ 1.002 = 998 kg/m3.

Find the Density of Gases

Convert Celsius to Kelvin
Add 273.15 to the degrees in Celsius to find the degrees in Kelvin. For instance, a
temperature of 10 degrees C = 10 + 273.15 = 283.15 Kelvin

Multiply by Gas Constant

Multiply the temperature in Kelvin by the gas constant. In dry air with a gas constant of
287.05 J, work out 283.15 x 287.05 = 81278.21.
Divide by Current Pressure
Divide this number by the current pressure measured in Pascals to find the density in
kg/m3. For instance, if you have a pressure of 10,000 Pascals work out 81278.21 ÷
10,000 = 0.813 kg/m3.

TL;DR (Too Long; Didn't Read)

Some commonly used volumetric expansion coefficients include water: 0.0002 (m3/m3
oC) and ethyl alcohol: 0.0011 (m3/m3 oC).

For the gas constant of dry air, use: 287.05 J/(kg*degK).

You need to know the pressure of a gas measured with the unit Pascals. If you only
have the pressure in mb, multiply the pressure in mb by 100 to convert the pressure of
the gas to Pascals.

Temperature Effects on Density

Density

Density is the mass of any material per unit volume. Gases always have much lower
density than the condensed phases. Most materials have a lower density of the liquid
than the solid but this isn't always true. Water has a higher density in the liquid state
than the solid, so ice cubes float.

Within a particular phase, how does the density depend on temperature?

Remember that temperature is related to the average kinetic energy of the atoms or
molecules within the substance. We know that, for gases, the volume is directly
proportional to temperature by the equation PV=nRT.
Pure Water

The density of liquid water is approximately 1.0

g/mL. The chart at right give the density in kg/m3.
Divide by 103 to get the density in g/mL.

Let's look at the density of water at 25 deg C and

compare that to a higher temperature, 80 deg C. The
density decreases from 0.9970 g/mL to 0.9718 as it is
heated. This makes sense because, as heat is added to
the liquid water, there is greater kinetic energy of the
molecules and there are also more vibrations of the
water molecules. Together these mean that each H2O
unit in liquid water takes up more space as the
temperature increases.

We see the same trend in going from liquid water at

25 deg C (0.9970 g/mL) to liquid water at 4 deg C
(0.99997 g/mL). Density increase as the temperature
decreases.

Below 4 deg C, however, the density decreases

again. How can we explain this?

Remember that liquid water and solid water have the

same network of bonds. Liquid water at 25 deg is so
rapidly breaking bonds between H2O units and
reforming them that extra water molecules get trapped
inside the water lattice. This is the reason why liquid
water is more dense than solid water.

The bonds in water break more slowly as temperature Wikipedia, Water Density
decreases and the structure tend to trap fewer extra
water molecules. At low temperature, more of the
water has the same lattice as ice.

It is possible to have liquid water at temperatures well below 0 deg C. Molecules in

this supercooled water are free to move. Bonds are made and broken. The long range
structure is not perfect but the short range structure of supercooled water is very much
like ice. Adding a crystal to supercooled water causes instantaneous ice formation.

Other Pure Liquids

Pure ethanol, CH3CH2OH, is another pure
liquid. It is similar to water in that it is
polar, with a permanent dipole moment,
and forms hydrogen bonds with itself. It
doesn't have the same type of 3-
dimensional lattice that water has though.

The table at right has the density of

ethanol from 3 deg to 40 deg C in g/mL.
We can see that the density decreases with
temperature through this range. Unlike the
situation with water, there is no maximum
density point.

Most other pure liquids are like ethanol in

this respect.

Solutions show the typical behavior of the

pure liquid with temperature but the
density is also strongly affected by the
quantity of dissolved material.