The Object Weight calculator contains the mass / weight equations for a variety of geometric shapes and provides the mean density for a large number of substances. By combining these you can estimate the mass or weight of an object. More simply stated, if you know the shape of an object, its size (dimensions) and what it's made of, you should be able to make a good estimate of its mass or weight. This calculator helps you do precisely that.
The Mass of Shapes equations in this calculator let the user:
- Choose a geometric shape or container type (see diagrams below),
- enter the dimensions of the object, and
- enter a mean density to calculate the object's approximate mass. Assuming nominal Earth gravity, the mass can be converted to nominal Earth surface weight (e.g. pounds from kilograms).
- If you don't know the mean density of the content of the shape, first go to the `mu` Density Constants tab. There are several common substances listed. If you do not find yours, click on the mean Density Lookup button and scroll through the 500+ choices to find the mean density of your substance or something close. Use that mean density number in the geometric shape equations to compute the mass/weight.
vCalc provides a lookup function that contains the mean density in kilograms per cubic meter of hundreds of substances from farm commodities (e.g. grains, woods, etc) to quary items (types of stone and sand) to commonly transported liquids (e.g. water, diesel).
The basic formula for all of the equations is this:
` "mass" = mu"Density" * "volume"`
Geometric Shapes or Containers
The mass equations in this calculator are based on three dimensional (3D) shapes and equations to calculate their volume. The geometric shapes included in this calculator are:
- Cube, Box, Cone, Cone (frustum), Cylinder, Slanted Cylinder,
- Ellipsoid, Capsule, Bottle, Paraboloid, Pyramid, Pyramid Frustum,
- Sphere, Sphere Cap, Sphere Segment, Prism, Torus, Chamfer
Diagrams of these objects are below.
Mean Density Units
Common Mean Densities |
Fluids
- Pure Water - 1,000 kg/m³
- Seawater - 1,022 kg/m³
- Milk - 1,037 kg/m³
- Olive Oil - 860 kg/m³
- Cement Slurry - 1,442 kg/m³
Fuels
- Diesel Fuel - 885 kg/m³
- Crude Oil - 870 kg/m³ to 920 kg/m³
- Fuel Oil - 890 kg/m³
- Ethanol - 789 kg/m³
- Gasoline (petrol) - 737 kg/m³
- Propane - 493 kg/m3
- Liquid Natural Gas - 430 to 470 kg/m3
Market-Ready Grains
- Corn - 56 lb/bu (721 kg/m3)
- Wheat - 60 lb/bu (772 kg/m3)
- Barley - 48 lb/bu (618 kg/m3)
- Oats - 32 lb/bu (412 kg/m3)
- Rye - 56 lb/bu (721 kg/m3)
- Soybean - 60 lb/bu (772 kg/m3)
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Metals
- Density of Aluminum - 2,700 kg/m3
- Density of Brass - 8,530 kg/m3
- Density of Bronze - 8,150 kg/m3
- Density of Chromium - 7190 kg/m3
- Density of Cobalt - 8746 kg/m3
- Density of Copper - 8,920 kg/m3
- Density of Gallium - 5907 kg/m3
- Density of Gold - 19,300 kg/m3
- Density of Iron - 7,847 kg/m3
- Density of Lead - 11,340 kg/m3
- Density of Nickle - 8,908 kg/m3
- Density of Palladium - 12,023 kg/m3
- Density of Platinum - 21,450 kg/m3
- Density of Steel - 7,850 kg/m3
- Density of Silver - 10,490 kg/m3
- Density of Titanium - 4,500 kg/m3
- Density of Tungsten - 19,600 kg/m3
- Density of Uranium - 19,050 kg/m3
- Density of Zinc - 7,135 kg/m3
- Density of Zirconium - 6,570 kg/m³
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Mean density is scientifically volume divided by mass. There are various unit for density adopted by cultures and industries. Common units for density included the following:
- kilograms per cubic meter (kg/m3)
- grams per cubic centimeter (g/cm3)
- grams per liter (g/L)
- pounds per cubic feet (lb/ft3)
- ounces per cubic inch (oz/in3)
- pounds per barrel (lb/bbl)
- pounds per bushel (lb/bu)
vCalc provides for automatic conversions between density units via the pull-down menus.
spheres
various shapes various frustums
See Also