Specific Gravity Test for Nuggets

(water displacement method)



Ever find a specimen nugget and wonder how much gold it contains?
Jack found this 2 1/2 ounce specimen and we checked it.



It's easy just get a dry weight of the specimen.

dry weight = 50.3 pennyweights

What a beautiful nugget!




Then get a cup of water large enough to dip your nugget in on a string to
 completely cover it. Then put it on your scales and tare it out to zero.



Next submerge it into the water, don't touch the sides or bottom but get it under
the water. Note the displaced water measurement,
we'll call this wet weight.

wet weight = 10.95 pennyweights


Weight of gold   is equal to     ( dry weight   x  1.16 )  minus  ( wet weight  x  3.07 )

so

dry weight   50.3 x 1.16    =    58.348

wet weight   10.95 x 3.07   =   33.616

58.348 - 33.616 = 24.732 pennyweights of gold

(20 pennyweights is one troy ounce)

So Jacks nugget has almost   1  1/4   ounce of gold in it.



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