Learn About Converting Metric Units of Capacity

We’re going to take a look at the conversion of metric units of capacity. So here, we have two parts of this problem. The first one, a gas tank holds about 70 liters of gas, 70 liters equals how many milliliters? And the second one is how many liters are in 35,000 milliliters?

So, the most commonly used metric units of capacity are liters and milliliters. So, we most commonly use liters and milliliters. So, the word “milli” in milliliter refers to one, one thousand. So, one milliliter is equal to one, 1000 of a liter or one liter equals 1000 milliliters. So, let’s take a look at it, so this is a conversion that we’re going to use because since we use liters and milliliters quite often in the metric units of capacity, one liter equals 1000 milliliters is the conversion factor that we’re going to be using quite often. So, it’s useless to help us solve our first problem. So, if gas tank holds about 70 liters of gas, 70 liters equals how many milliliters? So, we need to convert 70 liters to milliliters. So, here we know that one liter equals 1000 milliliters, so we have our conversion factor. We also know that we’re going from liters to milliliters so we are going from a bigger unit to a smaller unit. So, when you go from a bigger unit to a smaller unit, you’re taking your bigger unit and you multiply it by your conversion factor. So, let’s convert 70 liters equals our bigger unit which is 70 times our conversion factor which we said was 1000 and that will give us our milliliters. So, 70 liters is equal to 70 times a thousand is 70,000 milliliters.

So, let’s go to our second part. How many liters are in 35000 milliliters? So, I’m going down a little bit to give us some room. In this part of problem, we need to convert the measure of 35,000 milliliters to liters. So, we can do the conversion using the method of proportion. So, let’s let 35,000 milliliters be expressed as liters. So 35,000 milliliters is equal to “n” liters. So, their ratio then would be 35,000 over “n” liters. So, 35,000 milliliters over “n” liters would be their ratio. So, the conversion factor between liters and milliliters is also a ratio. So, we know 1 liter is equal to 1000 milliliters. So, the ratio for that would be 1000 milliliters over one liter. So, it would be 1000 milliliters to one liter would be the ratio for that. So, if we set up a proportion and we equate our ratios, here we’re ready to start using the method of proportion.

So now, we’re going to start equating the cross products. So, we get 35,000 milliliters times one, so we’re going to take 35,000 times one which would give me 35,000 and then we have 1000 times “n”. Then we need to divide both sides by a thousand which would give us 35,000 divided by a thousand, it would give us 35 equals and this would cancel and that would be “n”. So 35 “n” and “n” is liters. So therefore, there are 35 liters in 35,000 milliliters. So, how many liters are there in 35000 milliliters? There are 35 liters.

Alright so remember, the conversion factor between a liter and a milliliter is one 1000 of a liter equals one milliliter or one liter equals 1000 milliliters. A liter is a bigger unit than a milliliter and so you multiply the bigger unit by the conversion factor to convert it to a smaller unit. And a milliliter is a smaller unit than a liter, so divide the smaller unit by the conversion factor to convert the bigger units. So, when you’re going from smaller unit to a bigger unit, you’re dividing the smaller unit by that conversion factor.