What is Volume?
Definition: The volume of any object is the space the object encloses. Liquid volume is the amount of liquid in a container. Litre (L) is the standard metric unit used to measure liquid volume. Milliliter (mL) is a smaller metric unit used to measure the volume of liquid. The capacity of a container is the total amount of liquid it can hold. This capacity is commonly known as the volume of the container.
We often hear people say, “20 drops of liquid from an eyedropper is equal to 1 milliliter”, “there is about 1 litre of water in the bottle”, and “everyone should drink 5 litres of water in a day” etc. These are some common uses of the volume of liquid in everyday life.
The relation between milliliter and litre is,
1000 milliliters = 1 Litre
We can use both the units of volume, however, for bigger containers, litre and for the smaller quantities of liquid, milliliter is the preferred unit respectively.
A bathtub can be filled with a large amount of water, which is more than 1 litre, therefore the volume of water in a bathtub can be measured in litres.
Similarly, a small eye drop bottle contains less than 1 litre of liquid which can be measured in milliliters.
How to measure liquid Volume
A graduated cylinder is used to measure liquid volume. It is a cylindrical glass container marked with a measurement scale of volume along with the height of the container.
We can also use a beaker or an Erlenmeyer flask to measure liquid volume. These instruments can be used as a reference to easily measure liquid volume.
If we take a soup can, then the volume of liquid or soup in it can be measured by pouring the liquid into a graduated cylinder or a measuring flask. Then look at the scale marked on the flask and note the volume of soup.
The liquid volume in the soup can is 500 milliliters (as shown in the figure).
Similarly, to measure the volume of tea, we pour all the tea into 3 flasks. We see that is fully filled and the last flask is filled up to 750 milliliters (as shown in the figure). So, the total volume of tea is 2 Litres and 750 milliliters.
What is the Mass of an object ?
The mass is the amount of matter in an object. It is the measure of matter that an object contains. The weighing scale or a balance scale is used to measure the mass of an object.
A gram (g) is the standard metric unit used to measure the mass.
A kilogram (kg) is another metric unit used to measure bigger objects of greater mass.
The relation between the kilogram and gram is,
1 Kilogram = 1000 grams
Suppose we take a notebook and measure the weight, then should the weight of the notebook be 300 g or 300 Kg?
The notebook is less than a kilogram. So, the answer is 300 g.
Similarly, The weight of a dog should be 27 g or 27 kg?
Obviously, 27 g is too less weight. The weight of the dog should be 27 kg.
27kg 150g 1kg
Measurement of Mass
We use a balance machine to measure the mass of an object. In a balance, we compare the mass of an object with the known mass. Then we sum all the reference weights to find the weight of the object. Nowadays, these conventional machines are replaced with digital scientific balances. These balances, also called digital weighing machines, show the weight of any object very accurately. We mostly measure weights in grams or kilograms. But there are several units of weight like ton, pound, ounce etc.
For example, we can see in the balance machine that the butter box is at one arm of the balance. On the other hand reference weights of 100 grams, six 10 grams and one 1 gram are there. Both arms of balance are now stable and equal. So, we calculate the weight of the butter 100 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 10 + 1 = 151 grams.
Solved Examples on Mass and Volume
Example 1:
Write the total liquid volume shown in the figure:
Solution:
Two flasks are fully filled. The middle flask is 500 mL filled.
So, the total liquid volume is 1 L + 1L + 500 mL = 2 Litres 500 mL
Example 2:
Write the total liquid volume shown in the figure:
Solution:
Three flasks are fully filled.
So, the total liquid volume is, 1 L + 1L + 1 L = 3 Litres
Example 3:
Rozer, Smith and Zaire have been told to take acids in three different beakers. The required volume of acid for an experiment is 1 liter and 750 milliliters. Check who has taken the wrong amount of acid?
Solution:
Rozer, Smith and Zaire have taken beakers. Find the volume of acid taken by all of them,
Rozer has taken 1 liter in the first, 500 mL in the second and 500 mL in the third beaker.
So, the volume of acid taken by Rozer is,
1 L + 500 mL + 500 mL
= 1 L + 1000 mL
= 1 L +1 L [ 1000 mL =1 L]
= 2 L
Again,
Smith has taken 500 mL in the first, 250 mL in the second and 1 L in the third beaker.
So, the volume of acid taken by Smith is,
500 mL + 250 mL + 1 L
= 750 mL + 1 L
= 1 L 750 mL
Again,
Zaire has taken 250 mL in first, 1 L in second and 500 mL in third beaker.
So, the volume of acid taken by Smith is,
250 mL + 1 L + 500 mL
= 1 L + 750 mL
= 1 L 750 mL
So, only Rozer has taken the wrong volume of acid for the experiment.
Example 4:
Guess the approximate weight.
Solution:
The approximate weights are,
Example 5:
Put the masses in order from the least to the greatest.
1 kg, 6 g, 300 g, 25 kg
Solution:
To compare the weights, we first convert them to the same unit.
1 kg = 1000 g [1000 g = 1 kg]
25 kg = 25000 g
And the other two values are: 6 g and 300 g.
The masses from least to the greatest are, 6 g < 300 g < 1 kg < 25 kg
We can measure the mass of an object by using common balance, comparison balance, table balance, spring balance, platform balance, electronic balance etc.
No, the mass of an object always remains the same, irrespective of the balance it is measured from.
The relation between cubic decimeter and litre is,
\(1 Liter = 1 Decimeter^3\)
Yes, we can measure the volume of any liquid using the same instrument.