Specific volume

In thermodynamics, the specific volume of a substance (symbol: $ν$ , nu) is the quotient of the substance's volume ( $V$ ) to its mass ( $m$ ):

\nu ={\frac {V}{m}}

It is a mass-specific intrinsic property of the substance. It is the reciprocal of density $ρ$ (rho) and it is also related to the molar volume and molar mass:

\nu =\rho ^{-1}={\frac {\tilde {V}}{M}}

The standard unit of specific volume is cubic meters per kilogram (m³/kg), but other units include ft³/lb, ft³/slug, or mL/g.^[1]

Specific volume for an ideal gas is related to the molar gas constant ( $R$ ) and the gas's temperature ( $T$ ), pressure ( $P$ ), and molar mass ( $M$ ):

\nu ={\frac {RT}{PM}}

It's based on the ideal gas law, $PV={nRT}$ , and the amount of substance, ${\textstyle n=m/M}$

^ Moran, Michael (7 December 2010). Fundamentals of Engineering Thermodynamics. Wiley. ISBN 978-0-470-49590-2.