Unit of measure of capacity in the International System of Units (SI).
Notation
- The symbol for litre is “L” which represents “litre.” We use this symbol instead of the lowercase letter l to avoid any possible confusion with the digit 1.
- For the multiples and sub-multiples of a litre, we use the lowercase letter, such as in ml or kl.
Properties
One litre is equivalent to one cubic decimetre and we write: 1 L = 1 dm\({^3}\) .
- One litre is equivalent to 1000 millilitres: 1 L = 1000 ml.
- One kilolitre is equivalent to 1000 litres: 1 kl = 1000 L.
- One hectolitre is equivalent to 100 litres: 1 hl =100 L.
- One decilitre is equivalent to 100 millilitres: 1 dl = 100 ml.
- One centilitre is equivalent to 10 millilitres: 1 cl = 10 ml.
Educational Notes
The term “litre” comes from the term “litron,” an ancient measure of capacity.
One litre can be defined as the volume occupied by the mass of one kilogram of pure water at normal atmospheric pressure.