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| Convert from liter to gallon [US, liquid] |
Unit Definition (liter) The liter is the common metric unit of volume. The liter was originally defined to be the volume occupied by a kilogram of water, and the gram as the mass of a cubic centimeter of water. This would make the liter equal to exactly one cubic decimeter, that is, to the volume of a cube 0.1 meter (or 10 centimeters) on a side. Unfortunately, the physical objects constructed to represent the meter and kilogram disagreed slightly. As measured by the standard meter and standard kilogram, the standard liter turned out to be about 1.000 028 cubic decimeters. This discrepancy plagued the metric system for a long time. In 1901 an international congress accepted the discrepancy and formally defined the liter to be exactly 1.000 028 dm3. No one was particularly happy with such an awkward definition, and in 1964 the CGPM repealed the definition. In the SI, volumes are to be measured in cubic meters or power-of-ten multiples thereof, not in liters. However, the SI states that the liter "may be employed as a special name for the cubic decimeter." Throughout this dictionary, the liter is used as a name for exactly 1 cubic decimeter, 1000 cubic centimeters, or 0.001 cubic meter. In its renewed guise as the cubic decimeter, the liter is approximately 61.023 744 cubic inches. Compared to the customary volume units, the liter is a little more than a U. S. liquid quart (1.056 688 qt or 33.814 fluid ounces) but a little less than a U. S. dry quart (0.908 08 qt) or a British imperial quart (0.879 89 qt or 35.195 fluid ounces). Its name comes from a French volume unit, the litron, which was in turn derived from the Latin litra. Both the lower case letter l and the upper case L are accepted as symbols for the liter, but the U.S. Department of Commerce specifies that L be used, at least by businesses, to avoid confusion with the numeral 1. The unit is spelled liter in the U.S. and litre in Britain; there are many other spellings in various languages. Unit Definition (gallon [US, liquid]) The gallon [US, liquid] is a traditional unit of liquid volume, derived from the Roman galeta, which originally meant a pailful. Gallons of various sizes have been used in Europe ever since Roman times. In the United States, the liquid gallon is legally defined as exactly 231 cubic inches; this is equal to the old English wine gallon, which originated in medieval times but was not standardized until 1707, during the reign of Queen Anne. Some scholars believe the wine gallon was originally designed to hold 8 troy pounds of wine. The U. S. gallon holds 4 liquid quarts or exactly 3.785 411 784 liters; a U.S. gallon of water weighs about 8.33 pounds. American colonists were also familiar with the Elizabethan beer and ale gallon, which held 282 cubic inches (4.621 liters).
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