Introduction

API also known as American Petroleum Institute which is the major United States
trade association for the oil and natural gas industry. It helps to set standards for production,
refinement and distribution of petroleum products. The important standard that the API has
set is the method used for measuring the density of petroleum called API gravity.
The ratio of the density of one substance to the density of a reference substance is a
specific gravity. The API gravity is nothing more than the standard specific gravity used by
the oil industry, which compares the density of oil to that of water through a calculation
designed to ensure consistency in measurement. Less dense oil or light oil is preferable to
more dense oil as it contains greater quantities of hydrocarbons that can be converted to
gasoline.
The Baum scale is instituted as the standard measure for any liquid led dense than
water as petroleum is less dense than water and it is applied to oil in most cases. The actual
value in this scale supposedly 140 but since the use of 141.5 had become so entrenched in the
oil industry, the API decided to create the API gravity scale using the old value 141.5.
API gravity is calculated using the specific gravity of anoil, which is nothing more
than the ratio of its density to that of water (density of the oil/density of water). Specific
gravity in API calculations is at 60 degrees Fahrenheit. API gravity is found as follows:
API gravity = (141.5/Specific Gravity) 131.5
The unit for this scale is in degrees. So the API gravity of West Texas Intermediate is
said to be 39.6 degrees. From the equation above, it conclude that the denser an oil is, the
lower its API gravity will be. An API of 10 is equivalent to water, which means any oil with
an API above 10 will float on water while any with an API below 10 will sink.
The API gravity is used to classify oils as light (API > 31.1), medium
(22.3<API<31.1), heavy (API<22.3) or extra heavy (API<10.0). These are only estimation
value as the exact demarcation in API gravity between light and heavy oil changes depending
on the region from which oil came. Because density is a measure of weight per volume, API

can be used to calculate how many barrels of crude can be extracted from a metric ton of
given oil.
In this experiment, the oil being tested is four types which is diesel, kerosene,
lubricating and petrol oil. There are two ways to determine the density of the oil which is
manual and auto. Manually, the hydrometer is being used to examine the density meanwhile
for the auto, density meter will accurately calculate for the density. Then, the two results
obtained are compared to determine the accuracy of the value. Through that, the students will
know which one of oil is the most viscous and has the highest value of density. Logically, the
colour will obviously showed which one is the most viscous. The less dense of oil will easy
to vaporise and burn.

References
1. Petroleum.co.uk (2013) API Gravity [Online]. Available from :
http://www.petroleum.co.uk/api (Accessed 5th March 2015)
2. Rigzone (2015) What is Heavy Oil and How is it Formed? [Online]. Available from :
https://www.rigzone.com/training/heavyoil/insight.asp?i_id=184 (Accessed 5th March
2015)
3. Machinery Lubrication (2015) Measuring Relative Density of Lubricants [Online].
Available from : http://www.machinerylubrication.com/Read/29319/measuringrelative-density (Accessed 6th March 2015)
4. The Engineering Toolbox (2015) Density, Specific Weight and Specific Gravity
[Online]. Available from : http://www.engineeringtoolbox.com/density-specificweight-gravity-d_290.html ( Accessed 7th March 2015)
5. Today In Energy (2012) Crude oils have different quality characteristics [Online].
Available from : http://www.eia.gov/todayinenergy/detail.cfm?id=7110 (Accessed 9th
March 2015).