Measuring Capacity
Capacity is the amount that a container or vessel can hold. To measure different sizes, different units are used.
Units of Measuring Capacity
Litre: The standard unit of capacity is liter. Milk, petrol, oil, water etc are measured in liters. We denote ‘litre by ‘l’
Kilolitre: Large quantities of liquids are measured in kilolitres. Barrels of petrol or diesel, water in the tanks etc are measured in kilolitre. We denote ‘kilolitre by ‘kl’.
Millilitre: Very small quantities of liquids are measured in millilitres. Cold drink, medicines, shampoo etc in small bottles are measured in millilitres. We denote ‘millilitre’ by ‘ml’.
Relation between Units of Capacity
Liquids like milk and water are measured with the help of standard sized vessels shown below:
Look at the pot. How many glasses of water can it hold?
The pot can hold 5 glasses of water.
We can also use a standard unit of measurement to measure capacity.
Litre is the standard unit of measurement used to measure capacity. We can write it as L.
Millilitres is also a standard unit of measurement used to measure capacity. We can write it as mL.
1 L = 1000 mL
Look at this jug. This has 400 mL of water