[Physics] What causes liquids to have different densities

densitymaterial-science

We know that different liquids have different densities and it is mass over volume. When the mass is more, then its gravitational attraction will be higher (Compared to other lighter atomic mass liquids)but these gravitational attraction has to be too small to be noticeable.
My question is what causes these differences in density of liquids? Is it due to atomic attraction of atoms or surface energy of each atoms to near by atoms? I tried searching for an answer and couldn’t find it. pls help.

Best Answer

It's because the densities of the atoms changes.

The density of an atom is a somewhat vague concept because an atom doesn't have a sharply defined outer surface. nevertheless you can define a size based on the average lengths of bonds formed by atoms, and if you do this you find the size of atoms decreases along a row in the periodic table even though the atoms are getting heavier. This article has a nice diagram showing the size changes.

For example, the density of tetrachloroethylene, at 1.62 g/cm$^3$, is higher than water mainly because the chlorine atoms are denser than oxygen or hydrogen atoms.