Apothecaries' system between actual and nominal weight. In the 19th century, most European countries or cities still had at least a "commercial" or "civil" system (such as the English avoirdupois system) for general trading, and a second system (such as the troy system) for precious metals such as gold and silver. The system for precious metals was usually divided in a different way from the commercial system, often using special units such as the carat. More significantly, it was often based on different weight standards. The apothecaries' system often used the same ounces as the precious metals system, although even then the
Specific weight for dry unit weight is: where The formula for saturated unit weight is: where The formula for submerged unit weight is: where Specific weight can be used in civil engineering and mechanical engineering to determine the weight of a structure designed to carry certain loads while remaining intact and remaining within limits regarding deformation. Specific weight The specific weight (also known as the unit weight) is the weight per unit volume of a material. The symbol of specific weight is γ (the Greek letter Gamma). A commonly used value is the specific weight of water on Earth at 4°C which