Understanding volume
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What is volume or capacity? Although volume and capacity are very similar, there is a tiny difference.
In math, capacity is the amount a container will hold when full while volume refers to the amount of space inside that container.
Capacity is generally measured in milliliters, liters, or kiloliters.Take a look at the following container, which is a rectangular prism.
If the length, width, and height of this three-dimensional container measure 5 cm, 10 cm, and 20 cm respectively, the volume is 5 cm × 10 cm × 20 cm = 1000 cm3
By definition, 1000 cm3 = 1 liter
So, the container above has a volume of 1000 cm3 and a capacity of 1 liter. This container is grossly or approximately the same size and has the same capacity as a large bottle of soda.
Milli is a prefix which refers to a division by 1000 or a multiplication by 0.001.
So, 1 milliliter = 1 liter/1000 = 1000 cm3/1000 = 1 cm3
1 milliliter is grossly the dimension of a container with length, width, and height of 1 cm, 1 cm, and 1 cm respectively since 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm = 1 cm3
In real life this could be compared to the capacity of a dose of medicine.
Kilo is prefix which refers to a multiplication by 1000, so 1 kiloliter = 1 liter × 1000 = 1000 liters.
1 kiloliter is approximately the capacity of a king-size water bed.
As you may have noticed, kiloliters are used to measure huge quantity.
Understanding volume or capacity with some more real-life examples.
Items that may require kiloliters to measure them:
- Amount of oil or gas heat in your tank.
- Annual milk production in Massachusetts.
- Amount of water in swimming pool.
Items that may require liters to measure them
- Amount of water consumed in a day by a human being (about 1-6 liters technically. Depends on how thirsty you are)
- A carton of ice cream.
- Amount of milk a cow will give per day.
By the way a cow can probably produce about 4 gallons of milk a day.
Since 1 US gallon = 3.785 liters, 4 gallons = 4 × 3.785 = 15.14 liters.
Items that may require milliliters to measure them:
- A glass of water.
- A one scoop ice cream.
- A bottle of perfume.
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