Litre | |
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![]() One litre is the volume of a cube with 10 cm sides | |
General information | |
Unit system | Non-SI unit accepted for use with SI |
Unit of | Volume |
Symbol | l[1] or L[1] |
In SI base units: | 1 l = 10−3 m3 |
A litre (international spelling) or liter (American spelling) is one of the metric units of volume. It is not a basic SI unit, but it is a supplementary unit.
One litre is the volume of 1000 cubic centimetres, that is a cube of 10 × 10 × 10 centimetres (1000 cm3). One litre of water at 4 °C (277 K; 39 °F) has the mass of exactly one kilogram. This results from the definition given in 1795, where the gram was defined as the weight of one cubic centimetre of melting ice.[2]
Liters are usually utilized to measure the volume of liquids, this is because the density of liquids can vary a lot. However it can be applied to solids as well, for example 1 liter of Iron is around 7.7 kg. The symbol for litre is l or L.[1] The script letter ℓ is also sometimes used.
For smaller volumes, the decilitre is used: 10 dl = one litre.
For smaller volumes, the centilitre is used: 100 cl = one litre.
For smaller volumes, the millilitre is used: 1000 ml = one litre.
The capital letter "L" is preferred by some people as the small "l" can look like the number one "1".
Gramme, le poids absolu d'un volume d'eau pure égal au cube de la centième partie du mètre, et à la température de la glace fondante.English translation: "Gramme: the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of the meter, at the temperature of melting ice."