Volume

Another kind of property we frequently measure is volume. You can calculate the volume from length measurements. For example, if you have an object with a regular geometric shape, you might be able to measure the length, the width, and the depth (or height) and multiply them together to get the volume. If we measured those lengths in centimeters, we would calculate a volume in cubic centimeters when we multiplied the three numbers together.

The units of volume we will use are the liter (L) and the milliliter (mL). A liter is about the same volume as a quart. A milliliter is the same as a cubic centimeter or a cc.

All of the metric prefixes (kilo-, centi-, and milli-) can be applied to volume. The standard volume unit is a liter. If that's not large enough, then use a kiloliter which is 1,000 times as large as a liter. If a liter is too large for measuring the volume you are working with, you would use a smaller unit such as a milliliter (ml). A milliliter is the unit of volume that you'll use most often. The milliliter is 1/1,000th of a liter.

Metric Unit	Abbr.	Metric Equivalent	English Equivalent
liter	L		~1.06 quart
milliliter	mL	0.001 L or 1 cc	~0.2 teaspoon

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E-mail instructor: Eden Francis