Hydrometer

Nicholson’s Hydrometer, consists of a hollow cylinder of metal with conical ends, terminated above by a very thin rod bearing a small dish, and carrying at its lower end a kind of basket. This latter is of such weight that when the instrument is immersed in water a weight of 100 grammes must be placed in the dish above in order to sink the apparatus as far as a certain mark on the rod. By the principle of Archimedes, the weight of the instrument, together with the 100 grammes which it carries, is equal to the weight of the water displaced. Now, let the instrument be placed in another liquid, and the weights in the dish above be altered until they are just sufficient to make the instrument be placed in another liquid, and the weights in the dish above be altered until they are just sufficient to make the instrument sink to the mark on the rod.

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