Question

If a mineral has a specific gravity of 7.0. What does this mean?

Answer 1

It means that the mineral is 7.0 times more dense than water at `4^@C`.

Explanation:

The specific gravity (also called relative density) of a material is a ratio of the density of that material to the density of water at `4^@C`, which is the temperature at which water has its maximum density.
Density itself is defined as mass per unit volume : `rho=m/V`.

`thereforeSG=rho_(rel)=(rho_s)/(rho_(water at 4^@C)`.