WHAT IS MEANT BY THE VOLUME OF LIQUID ?

The volume of anything is the amount of space it occupies. Volume is also called as capacity. Capacity and volume can be distinguished ; capacity being used for how much container can hold. A liquid has a definite volume but no definite shape. Long ago the standard unit of capacity (volume) in the English system are the cup, pint, quart, gallon, tablespoon and teaspoon. Pint is the smallest unit for volume of liquid. Two pints are equivalent to a quart, and 4 quarts are equivalent to a gallon. Gallon is the basic English unit for volume of liquid. Unit such as barrels and hogsheads were used for larger volumes of liquid.

The names of the traditional volume of units are the names of standard containers. Today the standard unit of capacity in the metric system is the litre(ℓ), millilitre(mℓ), etc. The litre(ℓ) is used for larger volumes and the millilitre(mℓ) is for smaller volumes. measuring cylinders, pipettes, beakers and measuring jugs are some of the tools used to measure the volumes of liquid accurately.

In this topic of volume, Archimedes, a great Greek mathematician and scientist needs to be mentioned. He was the first to find out, that the volume of any solid equals to the amount of water that is displaced. He was given the task to finding out whether his king was cheated of his gold to make the crown. He found the answer when he went for his bath in a tub full of water. In the reservoirs, we need to calculate the storage of water, how much volume of water it can hold and the volume of water needed for the peoples’ consumption is very important.

Petrol and diesel are measured in litres. The amount of money that we pay for petrol is based on the volume of petrol we fill up in litres. Bottle drinks, can drinks and mineral water are available in different volumes. The small – sized bottles are labelled with millilitre(mℓ) and the larger – sized bottles are labeled with litre(ℓ). Household items such as shampoo, perfume and liquid detergent are also labelled with these units.

In our daily activities, we might use a certain fraction of the volume of liquid. For example, we may use ¼ of a bottle of 1 litre orange cordial to prepare a jug of orange – flavoured drink. We can determine this volume in milliliters using mathematical operations.