Measuring the Volume

Volume Measurement

1. Volume is the space occupied by an object. 
2. The SI unit for volume is cubic metre (m³). 
3. Millilitre (ml) and litre (l) are used for measuring liquid volumes.
   1 ml = 1 cm³,
   1 l = 1000 ml = 1000 cm³
   1 m³ = 1000 000 cm³
   

Notes
1 m³
= 1m x 1m x 1m
= 100cm x 100cm x 100cm
= 1,000,000 cm³

Measuring the Volume of Liquids

1. Liquid volumes can be measured using a measuring cylinder or a burette or a pipette.
2. Burette is more accurate than measuring cylinder whereas pipette is more accurate than burette.
3. However, a pipette can only measure a fixed amount of liquid, such as 5cm³, 15cm³, 20cm³ or 25cm³.
4. A few precaution need to be taken when measuring the volume of a liquid:
1. The measuring cylinder must be placed on a level surface and a piece of white paper placed behind it.
2. The liquid volume is read from the meniscus level as shown in figure below.
   
   
5. The meniscus of mercury is curved upwards. The reading has to be taken on top of the curve.
   
   
6. Burettes and pipettes can measure liquid volumes more accurately than measuring cylinders because:
7. The volume of liquid released from the burette can be measured as the difference between the final and initial readings.

Measuring Cyclinder	Burette	Pipette

Measuring Volume of Solids

1. The volume of regular or irregular shaped solids can be measured using the water displacement method.
   Example:
   
   
2. Another method to measure volume of irregular solids is by using the eureka can.