Calculators > Conversions > Density Calculator

Density Conversion Calculator

Convert Density:
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About this converter

Convert among mass density values along with mass concentration values; (mass divided by volume).

Ounces and pounds are avoirdupois, the standard everyday system in the United States where 1 ounce = 1/16 pound

How to Convert Units of Density

Conversions are performed by using a conversion factor. By knowing the conversion factor, converting between units can become a simple multiplication problem:

S * C = E

Where S is our starting value, C is our conversion factor, and E is our end converted result.

To simply convert from any unit into kg/m3, for example, from 50 lb/ft3, just multiply by the value in the right column in the table below.

50 lb/ft3 * 16.018463 [ (kg/m3) / (lb/ft3) ] = 800.92315 kg/m3

To convert from kg/m3 into units in the left column divide by the value in the right column or, multiply by the reciprocal, 1/x.

800.92315 kg/m3 / 16.018463 [ (kg/m3) / (lb/ft3) ] = 50 lb/ft3

To convert among any units in the left column, say from A to B, you can multiply by the factor for A to convert A into kg/m3 then divide by the factor for B to convert out of kg/m3.  Or, you can find the single factor you need by dividing the A factor by the B factor.

For example, to convert from lb/ft3 to g/mL you would multiply by 16.018463 then divide by 1000.  Or, multiply by 16.018463/1000 = 0.016018463. So, to convert directly from lb/ft3 to g/mL you multiply by 0.016018463.

To understand how to also convert the units follow this example. Say you want to convert from lb/ft3 to lb/in3.  You want to convert the foot to inches.  Since you can multiply anything by 1 and still retain the original value, but in different units, set it up so that ft3 will cancel out leaving you with in3.

Since:
1 ft = 12 in, 1 ft / 12 in = 1

We can write the conversion as:
1 lb/ft3 = 1 lb/ft3 * (1 ft / 12 in)3 = 1 lb/ft3 * (1 ft3 / 1728 in3) = 5.787037e-04 lb/in3

And we now have our factor for conversion from lb/ft3 to lb/in3 since 1 * 5.787037e-04 = 5.787037e-04.

Knowing that 1 lb/ft3 = 5.787037e-04 lb/in3 we can now find the conversion factor for converting back.  Dividing both sides of the equation by 5.787037e-04 we get 1728 lb/ft3 = 1 lb/in3.  So, the conversion factor to multiply by to convert from lb/in3 to lb/ft3 is 1728.

Units, symbols and conversion values
used in this density calculator
To Convert from
Unit		 Unit
Symbol		 and Convert to
( kg/m3 )		 Multiply by
( kg/m3 / Unit )
gram per cubic centimeter g/cm3 kilogram per cubic meter 1000
kilogram per cubic centimeter kg/cm3 kilogram per cubic meter 1000000
gram per cubic meter g/m3 kilogram per cubic meter 0.001
kilogram per cubic meter kg/m3 kilogram per cubic meter 1
gram per milliliter g/mL kilogram per cubic meter 1000
gram per liter g/L kilogram per cubic meter 1
kilogram per liter kg/L kilogram per cubic meter 1000
ounce per cubic inch oz/in3 kilogram per cubic meter 1729.994
ounce per cubic foot oz/ft3 kilogram per cubic meter 1.001153
pound per cubic inch lb/in3 kilogram per cubic meter 27679.90471
pound per cubic foot lb/ft3 kilogram per cubic meter 16.018463
ounce per gallon (Imperial) oz/gal kilogram per cubic meter 6.236023
ounce per gallon (U.S. fluid) oz/gal kilogram per cubic meter 7.489151
pound per gallon (Imperial) lb/gal kilogram per cubic meter 99.776372
pound per gallon (U.S. fluid) lb/gal kilogram per cubic meter 119.826
slug per cubic foot slug/ft3 kilogram per cubic meter 515.3788184
ton per cubic yard (long) l ton/yd3 kilogram per cubic meter 1328.939
ton per cubic yard (short) sh ton/yd3 kilogram per cubic meter 1186.553

References

The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) - The NIST Guide for the use of the International System of Units - Appendix B, subsections B.8 Factors for Units Listed Alphabetically and B.9 Factors for units listed by kind of quantity or field of science.

Lide, David R., Daniel (Editor-in-Chief). CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics, 89th Edition New York, NY: CRC Press, p. 1-28, 2008.

Wikipedia contributors. "Conversion of units" Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, last visited 26 Jun. 2011.