Density Unit Converter (kg/m³ ↔ g/cm³ ↔ lb/ft³ ↔ lb/gal)
Enter density in any common unit; the tool converts to nine others simultaneously — SI kg/m³, lab-standard g/cm³ (= g/mL), engineering US lb/ft³ / lb/in³ / lb/US gal, imperial lb/UK gal, mechanical-engineering slug/ft³ and more. It also reports specific gravity (relative to water), so you can tell at a glance whether the substance sinks or floats.
Please enter zero or a positive number.
Vs. water (specific gravity)
1.00
≈ About the same as water — neutral buoyancy
In other units
- kg/m³ (SI)
- 1,000
- g/cm³ = g/mL
- 1.000
- kg/L
- 1.000
- lb/ft³
- 62.43
- lb/in³
- 0.0361
- lb/US gal
- 8.345
- lb/UK gal (imperial)
- 10.022
- oz/in³
- 0.578
- slug/ft³
- 1.940
Formula
All conversions pass through kg/m³ as the canonical unit and then convert to the target. 1 g/cm³ = 1 g/mL = 1000 kg/m³ = 1 kg/L 1 lb/ft³ ≈ 16.0185 kg/m³ 1 lb/in³ ≈ 27 679.9 kg/m³ 1 lb/US gal ≈ 119.826 kg/m³ 1 lb/UK gal ≈ 99.776 kg/m³ 1 oz/in³ ≈ 1730.0 kg/m³ 1 slug/ft³ ≈ 515.379 kg/m³ Specific gravity = ρ ⁄ ρ_water with ρ_water ≈ 1000 kg/m³ (4 °C).
- · All conversion factors are derived from the exact definitions in NIST SP 811 (2008): 1 lb (avoirdupois) = 0.45359237 kg; 1 ft = 0.3048 m; 1 in = 0.0254 m; 1 oz = 28.349523125 g; 1 US gallon = 3.785411784 L; 1 imperial gallon = 4.54609 L; 1 slug ≈ 14.59390294 kg.
- · Memorise "water = 1000 kg/m³ = 1 g/cm³ = 62.43 lb/ft³ = 8.345 lb/US gal" as a mental anchor. Specific gravity (SG) of any substance is just its density divided by that water value.
- · SG < 1 floats, SG = 1 neutral, SG > 1 sinks — the tool flags this with colour. Gases (e.g. air at 1.225 kg/m³, SG ≈ 0.00122) still show as "less dense than water," but in practice you would compare them against air for aerostatic problems instead.
- · g/cm³, g/mL and kg/L are numerically identical — do not accidentally multiply by 1000. Labs prefer g/cm³, industry prefers kg/m³; the choice is purely convenience.
- · lb/US gal (water ≈ 8.345) is everyday US, while lb/UK gal (water ≈ 10.022) is ~20 % heavier because the imperial gallon (4.546 L) is bigger than the US gallon (3.785 L). International shipping invariably needs you to confirm which gallon is meant.
- · slug/ft³ shows up in mechanical engineering. A slug is the mass that 1 lbf accelerates at 1 ft/s² (≈ 32.174 lb in standard gravity). Water density is ≈ 1.940 slug/ft³ — frequently the working unit in Bernoulli or pressure problems.
- · Common reference densities (kg/m³): air (25 °C, 1 atm) ≈ 1.184; gasoline ≈ 745; ice ≈ 917; seawater ≈ 1025; aluminium ≈ 2700; steel ≈ 7850; gold ≈ 19 320; mercury ≈ 13 546.
- · References: NIST SP 811 "Guide for the Use of the SI" Appendix B; CRC Handbook of Chemistry and Physics (90th ed.) density tables; IUPAC nomenclature 2017.
Frequently asked
Why are "g/cm³", "g/mL" and "kg/L" always the same number?
Because the conversion factor really is 1:1. 1 mL is defined as 1 cm³ — same volume, two names — so g/cm³ ≡ g/mL. For kg/L: 1 kg = 1000 g and 1 L = 1000 mL, so 1000:1000 cancels to 1, giving 1 kg/L = 1 g/mL = 1 g/cm³. They are aliases of the same unit, not separate units; you do not need to multiply by anything to swap them. kg/m³ is different though: 1 m³ = 1 000 000 cm³, so 1 g/cm³ = 1000 kg/m³. Water at 1.00 g/cm³ is 1000 kg/m³, not 1 kg/m³. International scientific journals usually report in kg/m³ to avoid confusion, while labs reach for g/cm³ out of habit — read papers carefully.
How different are "lb/US gal" and "lb/UK gal", and which should I use when declaring an oil shipment?
The US gallon is 3.785411784 L; the UK (imperial) gallon is 4.54609 L — the imperial gallon is about 20.1 % larger (4.54609 / 3.785411784 ≈ 1.20095). For water that gives lb/US gal ≈ 8.345 vs lb/UK gal ≈ 10.022; for gasoline (745 kg/m³) it is 6.22 vs 7.47. Customs guidance: (1) US, Canadian retail and many North-American specs use lb/US gal; (2) UK, India, English-speaking Caribbean and older Malaysian specs sometimes use lb/UK gal; (3) International maritime (IMO/SOLAS) and the EU report in kg/m³ or t/m³ to remove ambiguity; (4) commercial aviation Jet A-1 (FAA/ICAO) uses kg/L or lb/US gal. Always pivot through kg/m³ on a customs form to avoid an expensive misunderstanding. The tool shows both lb/gal values side-by-side so you can audit.
Wikipedia lists water density as 0.99821 g/cm³ at 20 °C — is it not 1.0?
Yes — 0.99821 g/cm³ is the true 20 °C density of pure water. Water peaks at 4 °C (999.972 kg/m³, which is exactly why historical definitions anchor 1 g/cm³ there); it expands slightly to 998.21 kg/m³ at 20 °C and falls to ~958.4 kg/m³ at 100 °C. The ~0.18 % difference is irrelevant for everyday work (human buoyancy, freight weight) but matters for precision applications — densimeter calibration, pycnometer experiments, PCR reagent prep, oceanographic salinity. This tool uses the standard 1000 kg/m³ reference, which is good enough for engineering. For metrology, use IAPWS-IF97 (international steam-table formulation) or CIPM-2007 for water. Seawater additionally needs a salinity correction (≈ 35 ‰ gives ≈ 1025 kg/m³); alcohols and oils diverge much more.
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