Litre

Not to be confused with litter or litr.

Litre
One litre is the volume of a cube with 10 cm sides
Unit information
Unit system	SI derived unit
Unit of	Volume
Symbol	l (ℓ) or L
In SI base units:	1 L = 10−3 m3

The litre (International spelling) or liter (American spelling) (SI symbols L or l, commonly, but incorrectly, abbreviated as ltr) is an SI accepted metric system unit of volume equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm³), 1,000 cubic centimetres (cm³) or 1/1,000 cubic metre. A cubic decimetre (or litre) occupies a volume of 10×10×10 centimetres (see figure) and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre.

The original French metric system used the litre as a base unit. The word litre is derived from an older French unit, the litron, whose name came from Greek - where, perversely, it was a unit of weight, not volume - via Latin, and which equalled approximately 0.831 litres. The litre was also used in several subsequent versions of the metric system and is accepted for use with the SI, although not an official SI unit—the SI unit of volume is the cubic metre (m³). The spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is "litre", a spelling which is shared by almost all English-speaking countries. The less common spelling of "liter" is more predominantly used in American English.

One litre of liquid water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram, due to the gram being defined in 1795 as one cubic centimetre of water at the temperature of melting ice. Subsequent redefinitions of the metre and kilogram mean that this relationship is no longer exact.

Definition

Maßkrüge (1-litre beer mugs) during the 2006 Oktoberfest in Germany

A litre is defined as a special name for a cubic decimetre or 10 centimetres × 10 centimetres × 10 centimetres, (1 L ≡ 1 dm³ ≡ 1000 cm³). Hence 1 L ≡ 0.001 m³ ≡ 1000 cm³, and 1 m³ (i.e. a cubic metre, which is the SI unit for volume) is exactly 1000 L.

From 1901 to 1964, the litre was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at maximum density and standard pressure. The kilogram was in turn specified as the mass of a platinum/iridium cylinder held at Sèvres in France and was intended to be of the same mass as the 1 litre of water referred to above. It was subsequently discovered that the cylinder was around 28 parts per million too large and thus, during this time, a litre was about 1.000028 dm³. Additionally, the mass-volume relationship of water (as with any fluid) depends on temperature, pressure, purity and isotopic uniformity. In 1964, the definition relating the litre to mass was abandoned in favour of the current one. Although the litre is not an official SI unit, it is accepted by the CGPM (the standards body that defines the SI) for use with the SI. CGPM defines the litre and its acceptable symbols.

A litre is equal in volume to the millistere, an obsolete non-SI metric unit customarily used for dry measure.

Explanation

Litres are most commonly used for items (such as fluids and solids that can be poured) which are measured by the capacity or size of their container, whereas cubic metres (and derived units) are most commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is often also used in some calculated measurements, such as density (kg/L), allowing an easy comparison with the density of water.

One litre of water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram when measured at its maximal density, which occurs at about 4 °C. Similarly: 1 millilitre of water has a mass of about 1 g; 1,000 litres of water has a mass of about 1,000 kg (1 tonne). This relationship holds because the gram was originally defined as the mass of 1 mL of water; however, this definition was abandoned in 1799 because the density of water changes with temperature and, very slightly, with pressure.

It is now known that density of water also depends on the isotopic ratios of the oxygen and hydrogen atoms in a particular sample. Modern measurements of Vienna Standard Mean Ocean Water, which is pure distilled water with an isotopic composition representative of the average of the world’s oceans, show it has a density of 0.999975 ±0.000001 kg/L at its point of maximum density (3.984 °C) under one standard atmosphere (760 torr, 101.325 kPa) of pressure.

SI prefixes applied to the litre

The litre, though not an official SI unit, may be used with SI prefixes. The most commonly used derived unit is the millilitre, defined as one-thousandth of a litre, and also often referred to by the SI derived unit name "cubic centimetre". It is a commonly used measure, especially in medicine and cooking. Other units may be found in the table below, where the more often used terms are in bold. However, some authorities advise against some of them; for example, in the United States, NIST advocates using the millilitre or litre instead of the centilitre.

Multiple	Name	Symbols		Equivalent volume			Submultiple	Name	Symbols		Equivalent volume
100 L	litre	l (ℓ)	L	dm3	cubic decimetre
101 L	decalitre	dal	daL	101 dm3	ten cubic decimetres		10−1 L	decilitre	dl	dL	102 cm3	hundred cubic centimetres
102 L	hectolitre	hl	hL	102 dm3	hundred cubic decimetres		10−2 L	centilitre	cl	cL	101 cm3	ten cubic centimetres
103 L	kilolitre	kl	kL	m3	cubic metre		10−3 L	millilitre	ml	mL	cm3	cubic centimetre
106 L	megalitre	Ml	ML	dam3	cubic decametre		10−6 L	microlitre	µl	µL	mm3	cubic millimetre
109 L	gigalitre	Gl	GL	hm3	cubic hectometre		10−9 L	nanolitre	nl	nL	106 µm3	million cubic micrometres
1012 L	teralitre	Tl	TL	km3	cubic kilometre		10−12 L	picolitre	pl	pL	103 µm3	thousand cubic micrometres
1015 L	petalitre	Pl	PL	103 km3	thousand cubic kilometres		10−15 L	femtolitre	fl	fL	µm3	cubic micrometre
1018 L	exalitre	El	EL	106 km3	million cubic kilometres		10−18 L	attolitre	al	aL	106 nm3	million cubic nanometres
1021 L	zettalitre	Zl	ZL	Mm3	cubic megametre		10−21 L	zeptolitre	zl	zL	103 nm3	thousand cubic nanometres
1024 L	yottalitre	Yl	YL	103 Mm3	thousand cubic megametres		10−24 L	yoctolitre	yl	yL	nm3	cubic nanometre

Non-metric conversions

See also Imperial units and US customary units

Metric unit	Approximate value	Non-metric unit	System	Non-metric unit	Metric equivalency
1 L	≈ 0.87987699	quart	Imperial	1 quart	≡ 1.1365225 L
1 L	≈ 1.056688	fluid quarts	U.S.	1 fluid quart	≡ 0.946352946 L
1 L	≈ 1.75975326	pints	Imperial	1 pint	≡ 0.56826125 L
1 L	≈ 2.11337641	fluid pints	U.S.	1 fluid pint	≡ 0.473176473 L
1 L	≈ 0.21997	gallon	Imperial	1 gallon	≡ 4.54609 L
1 L	≈ 0.2641720523	liquid gallon	U.S.	1 liquid gallon	≡ 3.785411784 L
1 L	≈ 0.0353146667	cubic foot		1 cubic foot	≡ 28.316846592 L
1 L	≈ 61.0237441	cubic inches		1 cubic inch	≡ 0.016387064 L
1 L	≈ 35.1950	fluid ounces	Imperial	1 fluid ounce	≡ 28.4130625 mL
1 L	≈ 33.8140	customary fluid ounces	U.S.	1 customary fluid ounce	≡ 29.5735295625 mL

Rough conversions

One litre is slightly more than one U.S. liquid quart and slightly less than one imperial quart or one U.S. dry quart. A mnemonic for its volume relative to the imperial pint is ‘a litre of water is a pint and three quarters’.

A litre is the volume of a cube with sides of 10 cm, which is slightly less than a cube of sides 4 inches (or one-third of a foot). One cubic foot would contain exactly 27 such cubes (four inches on each side), making one cubic foot approximately equal to 27 litres. One cubic foot has an exact volume of 28.316846592 litres, which is within 5% of the 27-litre approximation.

A litre of water has a mass almost exactly equal to one kilogram. An early definition of the kilogram was set as the mass of one litre of water. Because volume changes with temperature and pressure, and pressure uses units of mass, the definition of a kilogram was changed. At standard pressure, one litre of water has a mass of 0.999975 kg at 4 °C, and 0.997 kg at 25 °C.

Symbol

Originally, the only symbol for the litre was l (lowercase letter L), following the SI convention that only those unit symbols that abbreviate the name of a person start with a capital letter. In many English-speaking countries, however, the most common shape of a handwritten Arabic digit 1 is just a vertical stroke; that is, it lacks the upstroke added in many other cultures. Therefore, the digit ‘1’ may easily be confused with the letter ‘l’. Further, on some typewriters, particularly older ones, the unshifted L key had to be used to type the numeral 1. Even in some computer typefaces, the two characters are barely distinguishable. This caused some concern, especially in the medical community.

As a result, L (uppercase letter L) was adopted as an alternative symbol for litre in 1979. The United States National Institute of Standards and Technology now recommends the use of the uppercase letter L, a practice that is also widely followed in Canada and Australia. In these countries, the symbol L is also used with prefixes, as in mL and µL, instead of the traditional ml and µl used in Europe. In the UK and Ireland as well as the rest of Europe, lowercase l is used with prefixes, though whole litres are often written in full (so, ‘750 ml’ on a wine bottle, but often ‘1 litre’ on a juice carton). In 1990, the CIPM stated that it was still too early to choose a single symbol for the litre.

Prior to 1979, the symbol ℓ (script small l, U+2113), came into common use in some countries; for example, it was recommended by South African Bureau of Standards publication M33 and Canada in the 1970s. This symbol can still be encountered occasionally in some English-speaking and European countries like Germany, and its use is ubiquitous in Japan and South Korea. Fonts covering the CJK characters usually include not only the script small ℓ but also four precomposed characters: ㎕, ㎖, ㎗ and ㎘ (U+3395 to U+3398) for the microlitre, millilitre, decilitre and kilolitre. Such usage in printed works is in conflict with the recommendations published by the BIPM on the advice of the major international standards organisations (including ISO, NIST, NPL, IAU, IUPAC and IUPAP) who state in the SI Brochure that unit symbols should be ‘printed in Roman (upright) type regardless of the type used in the surrounding text’.

History

The first name of the litre was "cadil"; standards are shown at the Musée des Arts et Métiers in Paris.

The litre was introduced in France in 1795 as one of the new ‘republican units of measurement’ and defined as one cubic decimetre. One litre of liquid water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram, due to the gram being defined in 1795 as one cubic centimetre of water at the temperature of melting ice. The original decimetre length was 44.344 lignes, which was revised in 1798 to 44.3296 lignes. This made the original litre 1.000974 of today's dm³. It was against this litre that the kilogram was constructed.

In 1879, the CIPM adopted the definition of the litre, with the symbol l (lowercase letter L).

In 1901, at the 3rd CGPM conference, the litre was redefined as the space occupied by 1 kg of pure water at the temperature of its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1 atm. This made the litre equal to about 1.000028 dm³ (earlier reference works usually put it at 1.000027 dm³).

In 1964, at the 12th CGPM conference, the original definition was reverted to, and thus the litre was once again defined in exact relation to the metre, as another name for the cubic decimetre, that is, exactly 1 dm³.

In 1979, at the 16th CGPM conference, the alternative symbol L (uppercase letter L) was adopted. It also expressed a preference that in the future only one of these two symbols should be retained, but in 1990 said it was still too early to do so.

Colloquial and practical usage

In spoken English, the symbol ‘mL’ (for millilitre) is often pronounced as ‘mil’, which is potentially confusing as this could also be interpreted as:

1. millimetre, a unit of length equal to one-thousandth of a metre
2. thousandth of an inch
3. mil, a Scandinavian unit of length equal to 10 kilometre
4. angular mil, unit of angular measurement

Generally, these various meanings do not create confusion because the context is usually sufficient—one being a volume, the others linear or angular measurement.

The abbreviation cc (for cubic centimetre, equal to a millilitre or mL) is a unit of the cgs system, that preceded the MKS system, that later evolved into the SI system. The abbreviation cc is still commonly used in many fields including medical dosage and sizing for small combustion engine displacement, such as those used in motorcycles.

The microlitre (µL) has been known in the past as the lambda (λ), but this usage is now discouraged.

In the SI system, use of prefixes for powers of 1,000 is preferred and all other multiples discouraged. However, in countries where the metric system was established well before the adoption of the SI standard other multiples were already established, their use remains common. In particular, use of the centi (10⁻²), deci (10⁻¹), deca (10⁺¹) and hecto (10⁺²) prefixes are still common. For example, in many European countries, the hectolitre is the typical unit for production and export volumes of beverages (milk, beer, soft drinks, wine, etc.) and for measuring the size of the catch and quotas for fishing boats; decilitres are common in Switzerland and Scandinavia and sometimes found in cookbooks; centilitres indicate the capacity of drinking glasses and of small bottles. In colloquial Dutch in Belgium, a 'vijfentwintiger' and a 'drieëndertiger' (literally 'twenty-fiver' and 'thirty-threer') are the common beer glasses, the corresponding bottles mention 25 cL or 33 cL. Bottles may also be 75 cL or half size at 37.5 cL for 'artisanal' brews or 70 cL for wines or spirits. Cans come in 25 cL, 33 cL and 50 cL a.k.a. 0.5 L.

In countries where the metric system was adopted as the official measuring system after the SI standard was established, common usage more closely follow contemporary SI conventions. For example, in Canada, Australia and New Zealand, consumer beverages are labelled almost exclusively using litres and millilitres. Hectolitres sometimes appear in industry, but centilitres and decilitres are rarely, if ever, used. Larger volumes are usually given in cubic metres (equivalent to 1 kL), or thousands or millions of cubic metres.

Although kilolitres, megalitres and gigalitres are commonly used for measuring water consumption, reservoir capacities and river flows, for larger volumes of fluids, such as annual consumption of tap water, lorry (truck) tanks, or swimming pools, the cubic metre is the general unit. It is also generally for all volumes of a non-liquid nature.

Usages to indicate capacity

Fields where the litre and millilitre are used as a measurement for non-liquid volumes, where the capacity of the container is indicated, include:

• Solid items that can be poured and are measured by their containers (such as, in many places, berries)
• Car boot/trunk size
• Rucksacks & Climbing packs
• Computer cases
• Microwave ovens
• Refrigerators
• Bins
• Engine displacement

See also

• Acre-foot
• Claude Émile Jean-Baptiste Litre
• Cubic centimetre
• Cubic metre

• Gallon
• Kilogram
• Pint

Bibliography

• Bureau International des Poids et Mesures. (2006). "The International System of Units (SI)" (on-line browser):
  • Table 6 (Non-SI units accepted for use with the International System). Retrieved 2008-08-24
• National Institute of Standards and Technology. (December 2003). The NIST Reference on Constants, Units, and Uncertainty: International System of Units (SI) (web site):
  • Note on SI units. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
  • Recommending uppercase letter L. Retrieved 2008-08-24.
• Taylor, B.N. and Thompson, A. (Eds.). (2008a). The International System of Units (SI). United States version of the English text of the eighth edition (2006) of the International Bureau of Weights and Measures publication Le Système International d’ Unités (SI) (Special Publication 330). Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2008-08-18.
• Taylor, B.N. and Thompson, A. (2008b). Guide for the Use of the International System of Units (Special Publication 811). Gaithersburg, MD: National Institute of Standards and Technology. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
• Turner, J. (Deputy Director of the National Institute of Standards and Technology). (16 May 2008)."Interpretation of the International System of Units (the Metric System of Measurement) for the United States". Federal Register Vol. 73, No. 96, p. 28432-3.
• UK National Physical Laboratory. Internationally recognised non SI units