Common Litres Conversions and Practical Applications
Volume is the amount of 3D space something takes up. The two most common measurements of volume in terms of liquid are Litres and Millilitres. Thus, a litre is a unit of measuring volume under the metric system. litres are commonly written as L (in short), so "5 L" indicates "5 litres" (you can also use lowercase l). In addition, a litre is just a clump of millilitres that is put all together. In fact, one litre
Makes up 1000 millilitres i.e.: 1 litre = 1,000 millilitres.
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Examples of Litres
Milk, cold drinks, juices, soda and other drinks and carbonated drinks are often sold in litres. This is to say, the jug contains exactly 2 litres of water in it.
Let’s check out the capacity that each metric unit holds. Below is the summation in a tabular form.
Metric Units and Fluid Volume Used in Measuring Volume
Measuring volume units are also expressed in short forms such as below:
Abbreviations Used in Measuring Volume
One Litre
Litres are often used for commodities or components (like the fluids and solids which can be poured) and are measured by the size or capacity of their container. On the other hand, cubic meters (and derived units) are commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is also used in some measurements, like the density (kg/L), enabling easy comparison with the density of water.
One Litre of Water
1 litre of water contains a mass of almost one kilogram since the kilogram was originally described as the mass of one cubic decimetre of water (10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm) at the temperature of melting ice (0 °C) in 1795. Followed up redefinitions of the metre and kilogram indicated that this relationship is no longer exact.
Solved Examples
Example1:
Alex bought a bottle of hand sanitiser. The bottle contains 4000 ml of liquid content.
Find out the volume of litres of the liquid does the sanitiser bottle contain?
Solution:
4000mL = 4000/1,000
=4 L
Therefore, the sanitiser bottle contains 4L
Example2:
Mr. Brown purchased 5 cans of pineapple juice of 1 L each. He drank 2500 mL of juice. Calculate the mL of juice still remaining in the cans?
Solution:
1 can=1
L5 cans=5
L= 5×2,500=12,500
mL=12,500 mL−2,500 mL =10,000
∴ 10,000 mL of juice is remaining.
Example3:
The volume of a kitchen pantry trash bin in a school is 70 litres. Find out the gallons of trash that the trash bin in the kitchen can hold?
Solution:
To find out: The volume of the trash bin in gallons.
Given: The given volume of the kitchen trash bin = 70 litres.
Applying the formula of litres to gallons,
gallons = 0.264172 * litres
gallons = 0.264172 * 70 = 18.49204
Hence, the volume of the given kitchen trash bin it can hold = 2.64172 gallons.
Fun Facts
Litre was once used as a base unit under the original French metric system
The term litre is extracted from a traditional French unit, the ‘litron’, whose name appeared from Byzantine Greek—where it was regarded as a unit of weight, not volume and equivalent to approximately 0.831 litres.
The litre is accepted for use with the SI, not an SI unit—the SI unit of volume is the cubic metre (m3).
The spelling "litre" is primarily used in American English.
A litre is represented with an abbreviation L or l is measured as L3 which is used to measure liquids.
A litre is a bit more than a quart in the measurement
FAQs on What Is a Litre? Meaning, Measurement & Uses
1. What is a litre and what is its symbol?
A litre is a standard unit used to measure the volume of liquids, like water, milk, or juice. It tells us how much space a liquid occupies. The most common symbol for a litre is 'L', although 'l' is also sometimes used.
2. How many millilitres (ml) are in one litre?
There are exactly 1000 millilitres (ml) in one litre. A millilitre is a much smaller unit of volume, often used for measuring things like liquid medicine or small amounts of ingredients in a recipe.
3. Is there a difference between 'litre' and 'liter'?
No, there is no difference in the amount they represent. Both are correct, but used in different regions. 'Litre' is the standard spelling in India and other countries following British English, while 'liter' is the spelling used in American English.
4. What are some real-life examples of items measured in litres?
We use litres to measure many common items. For example:
- Large bottles of water or soft drinks (e.g., 1 L or 2 L).
- Cartons of milk and juice.
- The amount of petrol or diesel a car's fuel tank can hold.
- The capacity of a water purifier or a small aquarium.
5. How are litres related to kilograms (kg)?
This is a common point of confusion. A litre measures volume (the space an object takes up), while a kilogram measures mass (how heavy it is). You cannot directly convert one to the other. However, for water, 1 litre has a mass of almost exactly 1 kg. For other liquids like oil, 1 litre would have a different mass because its density is different from water.
6. What is the difference between volume and capacity?
While related, they mean slightly different things. Capacity is the maximum amount a container can hold (e.g., a bottle has a capacity of 1 litre). Volume is the actual amount of space a substance is currently taking up (e.g., the bottle might only contain 0.5 litres of water).
7. How is a litre related to cubic centimetres (cm³)?
There is a direct and very useful relationship between them. One litre is equal to exactly 1000 cubic centimetres (cm³). This means a box that is 10 cm long, 10 cm wide, and 10 cm high has a capacity of exactly one litre.
