An oven – dried soil of mass 400g is placed in a pycnometer where empty weight is 573g. The mass of pycnometer with soil is 973g. The total mass of pycnometer with water and soil inside is 1605g. The pycnometer filled with water alone has mass of 1480. The specific gravity of solids is 2.65. Its water content is ______
a) 40.456
b) 46.504
c) 23.236
d) 6.423

Answer: b
Explanation: M₁= 573
M₂=973
M₃=1605
M₄=1480
G=2.65
\(w=[(\frac{M_2-M_1}{M_3-M_4})*(\frac{G-1}{G})- 1]× 100 \)
\(w=[(\frac{973-573}{1605-1480})*(\frac{2.65-1}{2.65})- 1]× 100 \)
=46.504%.