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What is meant by "specific gravity" of a mineral?

Specific Gravity

The specific gravity of a mineral is the its weight compared to water. For example, a one-inch-square cube of copper would weight 8.9 times as much as a one-inch-square cube of water.

Most common minerals have a specific gravity of about 2.7. If your specimen seems to be heavy compared to other minerals of about the same size, it probably has a significant amount of gold, lead, silver, or copper in it.

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