Volume

For other uses, see Volume (disambiguation).

The volume of a solid object is the three-dimensional concept of how much space it occupies, often quantified numerically. One-dimensional objects (such as lines) and two-dimensional objects (such as squares) are assigned zero volume in the three-dimensional space.

Volumes of straight-edged and circular shapes are calculated using arithmetic formulas. Volumes of other curved shapes are calculated using integral calculus, by approximating the given body with a large amount of small cubes or concentric cylindrical shells, and adding the individual volumes of those shapes. The generalization of volume to arbitrarily many dimensions is called content. In differential geometry, volume is expressed by means of the volume form.

Volume and Capacity are sometimes distinguished, with capacity being used for how much a container can hold (with contents measured commonly in litres or its derived units), and volume being how much space an object displaces (commonly measured in cubic metres or its derived units).

Volume and capacity are also distinguished in a capacity management setting, where capacity is defined as volume over a specified time period.

Volume is a fundamental parameter in thermodynamics and it is conjugate to pressure.

Volume formulae

Common equations for volume:
Shape	Equation	Variables
A cube:	$s^{3}=s\cdot s\cdot s$	s = length of a side
A rectangular prism:	$l\cdot w\cdot h$	l = length, w = width, h = height
A cylinder (circular prism):	$\pi r^{2}\cdot h$	r = radius of circular face, h = distance between faces
Any prism that has a constant cross sectional area along the height**:	$A\cdot h$	A = area of the base, h = height
A sphere:	${\frac {4}{3}}\pi r^{3}$	r = radius of sphere which is the first integral of the formula for Surface Area of a sphere
An ellipsoid:	${\frac {4}{3}}\pi abc$	a, b, c = semi-axes of ellipsoid
A pyramid:	${\frac {1}{3}}Ah$	A = area of base, h = height from base to apex
A cone (circular-based pyramid):	${\frac {1}{3}}\pi r^{2}h$	r = radius of circle at base, h = distance from base to tip
Any figure (calculus required)	$\int A(h)\,dh$	h = any dimension of the figure, A(h) = area of the cross-sections perpendicular to h described as a function of the position along h this will work for any figure (no matter if the prism is slanted or the cross-sections change shape).

(The units of volume depend on the units of length - if the lengths are in metres, the volume will be in cubic metres, etc)

The volume of a parallelepiped is the absolute value of the scalar triple product of the subtending vectors, or equivalently the absolute value of the determinant of the corresponding matrix.

The volume of any tetrahedron, given its vertices a, b, c and d, is (1/6)·|det(a−b, b−c, c−d)|, or any other combination of pairs of vertices that form a simply connected graph.

Volume measures: USA

U.S. customary units of volume:

• U.S. fluid ounce, about 29.6 mL
• U.S. liquid pint = 16 fluid ounces, or about 473 mL
• U.S. dry pint = 1/64 U.S. bushel, or about 551 mL (used for things such as blueberries)
• U.S. liquid quart = 32 fluid ounces, or about 946 mL
• U.S. dry quart = 1/32 U.S. bushel, or about 1.101 L
• U.S. liquid gallon = 128 fluid ounces or four U.S. quarts, about 3.785 L
• U.S. dry gallon = 1/8 U.S. bushel, or about 4.405 L
• U.S. (dry level) bushel = 2150.42 cubic inches, or about 35.239 L

The acre foot is often used in measuring the volume of water in a reservoir or an aquifer. It is the volume of water that would cover an area of one acre to a depth of one foot. It is equivalent to 43,560 cubic feet or exactly 1233.481 837 547 52 m³.

• cubic inch = 16.387 064 cm³
• cubic foot = 1,728 in³ ≈ 28.317 dm³
• cubic yard = 27 ft³ ≈ 0.7646 m³
• cubic mile = 5,451,776,000 yd³ = 3,379,200 acre-feet ≈ 4.168 km³

Volume measures: UK

The UK is undergoing metrication and is increasingly using the SI metric system's units of volume, i.e. cubic meter and litre. However, some former units of volume are still in varying degrees of usage:

Imperial units of volume:

• UK fluid ounce, about 28.4 mL (this equals the volume of an avoirdupois ounce of water under certain conditions)
• UK pint = 20 fluid ounces, or about 568 mL
• UK quart = 40 ounces or two pints1.137 L
• UK gallon = 4 quarts, or exactly 4.546 09 L

The quart is now obsolete and the fluid ounce extremely rare. The gallon is only used for transportation uses, (it is illegal for petrol and diesel to be sold by the gallon). The pint is the only Imperial unit that is in everyday use, for the sale of draught beer and cider (bottled and canned beer is mainly sold in SI units) and for milk (this too is increasingly being sold in SI units).

Volume measures: cooking

Traditional cooking measures for volume also include:

• teaspoon = 1/6 U.S. fluid ounce (about 4.929 mL)
• teaspoon = 1/6 Imperial fluid ounce (about 4.736 mL) (Canada)
• teaspoon = 5 mL (metric)
• tablespoon = ½ U.S. fluid ounce or 3 teaspoons (about 14.79 mL)
• tablespoon = ½ Imperial fluid ounce or 3 teaspoons (about 14.21 mL) (Canada)
• tablespoon = 15 mL or 3 teaspoons (metric)
• tablespoon = 5 fluidrams (about 17.76 mL) (British)
• cup = 8 U.S. fluid ounces or ½ U.S. liquid pint (about 237 mL)
• cup = 8 Imperial fluid ounces or ½ fluid pint (about 227 mL) (Canada)
• cup = 250 mL (metric)

Relationship to density

The volume of an object is equal to its mass divided by its average density. This is a rearrangement of the calculation of density as mass per unit volume.

The term specific volume is used for volume divided by mass. This is the reciprocal of the mass density, expressed in units such as cubic meters per kilogram (m³·kg^-1).

See also

• Area
• Conversion of units
• Density
• Orders of magnitude (volume)
• Mass
• Ton (volume)

External links

• FORTRAN code for finding volumes of various shapes