There are a few variables that can alter the weight of oil per gallon. These variables include the type of oil and the temperature of the oil.
Fluctuations in temperature affect the viscosity of oil and this alters the weight. Viscosity is the measurement of the flow of the oil. As the temperature increases, the oil becomes thinner and thus it flows more freely and it weighs less.
Oil Weight VS Water Weight
You would automatically think that water would be lighter than oil. Water is thinner than oil so it seems that oil would weigh more. The truth is that oil is lighter than water.
If you try to mix oil and water together you will find that the oil will float to the top. Oil and water cannot be combined. The oil rises to the top because the oil weighs less than the water.
Crude Oil
Crude oil that is stored in barrels weighs about 7.2 pounds per gallon. Crude oil is used to create many of the products we use daily in our homes, offices, and even in our cars. Crude oil is usually stored in 55 gallon barrels and sold by the barrel.
The temperature of crude oil does not affect the weight as greatly as temperature affects the weight of processed oils like motor oils, or cooking oils.
Recycled Motor Oil
Recycled motor oil generally weighs about 7 pounds per gallon. Recycled oil is thinner than the common motor oil and it has been strained, so the viscosity of the oil has been changed, and thus the weight of the oil is changed.
Cooking Oil
It is hard to believe but the oils we use to cook with weigh less than the oils we use to lubricate our automobile engines.
Household olive oil weighs about 7.6 pounds per gallon. You may not realize that the oil you use in your kitchen actually is denser than the oil you use in your automobile, and that extra density adds to the weight of the product.
Vegetable oil and corn oil both weigh about 8 pounds per gallon. Vegetable and corn oils are both denser than olive or coconut oil. Vegetable and corn oil have a denser consistency so they weigh more than some of the other oil varieties.
One cup of vegetable oil weighs 7.69 ounces or 0.48 pounds. That converts into 0.22 kilograms and 218.00 grams.
Coconut Oil
Coconut oil is often packaged according to its weight rather than by the familiar pint, quart and gallons that other oils are often packaged in. A pint bottle of oil should weigh 16 ounces, because a pint is 16 ounces, but with coconut oil being lighter than water a pint of coconut oil weighs only 14.72 ounces. Packaging by the true weight of the oil allows the manufacturer to be transparent with their customers.
One cup of coconut oil measures out as eight fluid ounces but weighs only 7.6 ounces.
One gallon is considered to be 128 fluid ounces yet it weighs 117.6 ounces or 7.36 pounds.
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Glycerin
Glycerin is a specialty type of oil that is very heavy. A gallon of glycerin weighs about 10.5 pounds per gallon.
Glycerin is not always thought of as being oil because it is a great deal thicker than what we normally think of as oil.
Body Oils
Body oil or oil products we use to care for our bodies, such as mineral oil, weighs only 7 pounds per gallon. Mineral oil is not as thick and dense as cooking oil, and is even lighter than automobile oils, or crude oil, so the body oils are the lightest of all oil products.
Conclusion
We use a wide variety of oils in our daily lives. Oils are used to keep our skin in good condition, to cook our food, to polish our furniture, and to lubricate our automobile engines. The weight of oil is dependent on the type of oil that it is, and the temperature the oil is.
The one fact we are all sure of is that oil, even the lightest of the oils, is lighter than water.