What Are the Metric Units for Volume? (2024)

This entry uses the metric system. For the imperial system click here.

Volume measures how much can fit inside of something. How much water is in your bathtub? How much milk is in a carton? How big is the trunk of your car?

Volume is measured in cubic meters or in liters. One cubic meter is a cube in which each side is one meter long. We use the units we learned from length to create smaller cubes. Then, we get cubic decimeters(dm³), cubic centimeters(cm²) and cubic millimeters(mm³).

One cubic decimeter is a cube where each side is one tenth of a meter, or one decimeter. A cubic decimeter is the same as one liter(L). Imagine that you have a box which is as large as one cubic decimeter. If you grab your liter measure from the kitchen and fill it with water, you’ll see that you can fit exactly one liter in the box. Therefore, we say that the box has a volume of $1$ L or 1 cubic decimeter.

Below, you see the connection between different cubic meters and measures of liters. It is expected of you to be able to convert one unit into another, and between cubic meters and liters. The link is as follows: $1 {dm}^{3} = 1 L$ and $1 {cm}^{3} = 1 mL$ .

Example1

Liter to centiliter:

$\begin{array}{l} 8 L & = (8 \cdot 10) dL \\ = 80 dL \\ = (80 \cdot 10) cL \\ = 800 cL \end{array}$

Centiliter to liter:

$\begin{array}{l} 800 cL & = (800 \div 10) dL \\ = 80 dL \\ = (80 \div 10) L \\ = 8 L \end{array}$

Liter to milliliter:

$\begin{array}{l} 0.0049 L & = (0.0049 \cdot 10) dL \\ = 0.049 dL \\ = (0.049 \cdot 10) cL \\ = 0.49 cL \\ = (0.49 \cdot 10) mL \\ = 4.9 mL \end{array}$

Milliliter to liter:

$\begin{array}{l} 4.9 mL & = (4.9 \div 10) cL \\ = 0.49 cL \\ = (0.49 \div 10) dL \\ = 0.049 dL \\ = (0.049 \div 10) L \\ = 0.0049 L \end{array}$

FAQs

What Are the Metric Units for Volume? ›

The three most common metric units of volume

units of volume

A unit of volume is a unit of measurement for measuring volume or capacity, the extent of an object or space in three dimensions.

https://en.wikipedia.org › wiki › Unit_of_volume

Unit of volume - Wikipedia

are the cubic meter (m^3), the cubic centimeter (cm^3), and the liter (L).

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What are the 7 units of volume? ›

SI Unit of Volume

cubic kilometer	km³	1,000,000,000 m³
cubic meter	m³	1 m³
cubic decimeter	dm³	0.001 m³
cubic centimeter	cm³	0.000001 m³
cubic millimeter	mm³	0.000000001 m³

2 more rows

Feb 11, 2020

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What is the basic unit for volume? ›

The base unit of volume in the SI system is the cubic meter (m³). Other commonly used units of volume are the liter (L), the cubic centimeter (cm³ or cc), and the milliliter (mL). One liter has a volume equal to 0.001 m³. The nearest unit of comparable volume in the English system is the quart (1.000 L = 1.057 qt).

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How to find metric volume? ›

To find the volume of a box, simply multiply length, width, and height — and you're good to go! For example, if a box is 5×7×2 cm, then the volume of a box is 70 cubic centimeters.

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What is the metric unit for liquid volume? ›

Liquid volume is the amount of liquid in a container. The liter (L) is the basic metric unit for measuring liquid volume. A milliliter (mL) is the metric unit to measure liquid in very small containers.

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What Are the Metric Units for Volume? (2024)

FAQs

What Are the Metric Units for Volume? ›

Unit of volume - Wikipedia

References