Name: __________________________________________
Date ________________________
Units of capacity/liquid measure
A. What is capacity?
When we speak of capacity, we are speaking of the amount of liquid that would fill a container. Often, capacity
and volume are discussed as a pair. This is because volume is the amount of space needed to fill an object and
we are filling that space with a liquid.
B. What are the units for capacity/liquid measure?
Customary units
-ounces




-cups
-pints
-quarts
The Metric System
-gallons
- milliliters


1 cup = 8 fluid ounces
1 pint = 2 cups
1 quart = 2 pints
1 gallon = 4 quarts
-liters (the base unit) - kiloliters
1 liter = 1000 milliliters
1 kiloliter = 1000 liters

A small cup of coffee holds
approximately 1 cup.

Drops of liquid from a dropper
is approximately 1 milliliter.

A container of ice cream
holds 1 pint.

A bottle of cola is one liter. A very
large bottle holds 3 liters.

Oil comes in a quart-sized container.

Water in a bathtub is about 1 kiloliter.

A large container of milk comes
in a gallon container
C. Now, let's decide which measure would be most appropriate for each of the following:
1) A large container of juice holds about 1 __________
a) quart
b) gallon
c) cup
d) pint
2) Mr. Jones put a ___________ of oil in his car.
a) pint
b) cup
c) quart
d) gallon
3) A large container of paint can hold a : ________
a) pint
b) cup
c) quart
d) gallon
4) A bottle of nail polish holds about 15 __________ .
a) milliliters
b) liters
5) A pot of soup holds about 2 __________ .
a) milliliters
b) liters
6) Which unit would you use to measure a tablespoon of vanilla?
a) milliliters
b) liters
Solving Problems containing Metric Units of Measurements
A container holds 2,500 milliliters of water. How many Liters of water does the
container hold?
Step 1:
Step 2:
Step 3:
Solving Problems containing Customary Units of Measurement
Jessica made 2 gallons of punch. How many pints of punch did she make?
D. Converting between units of measure – some applications:
7) Jennifer pours 10 gallons of water into her
aquarium. How many quarts of water does
Jennifer pour into the aquarium?
8) Lucas fills his fish tank with water the tank holds
250 liters of water. How many milliliters does the
tank hold?
9) To make one batch of tropical punch, the
recipe calls for 3 cups of orange juice. How many
gallons of orange juice are needed to make 32
batches?
10) (THINK!) Mrs. O’Sullivan bought 2 gallons of
baby formula. Baby formula costs $2.25 a pint.
How much money did she spend?
11) A container holds 1 pint of juice. Four friends
each drank 4 oz. How much juice is left in the
container?
12) Alyssa painted her room. She used 1 gal. of
yellow and 2 pt. of white paint. How many quarts
of paint were used in all?
Name_______________ Date________ period____ Teacher: _____________
Homework
1. A container holds 500 mL of water. What is the capacity of the container in liters?
A. 2 liters
B. 1000 liters
C. 500,000 liters
D. 0.5 liters
Show Work.
2. There are 12 pints of milk left over from lunch. How many quarts is this?
3. How many pounds is 72 ounces?
A.
B.
C.
D.
4
4.5
3
3.5
Show Work.
3. Mike drank 2 quarts of water after a basketball game. What is this measure in pints?
4. Lisa bought 2 gallons of soda. What is this measure in cups?
5. A bowling ball weighs 5.6kg. How many grams is this?
A. 56000g
B. 5600g
C. 0.0056g
D.56g
Show Work.
6. A squash weighs 42 ounces. What is its weight in pounds and ounces?
A. 5 lb 2 oz
B. 4 lb 8oz
C. 2 lb 10oz
D. 2 lb 8oz
Show Work.
7. Ms. Williams serves 56 cups of ice cream to students in her after school program. A gallon of
ice cream cost $4.70. How much money did she pay for the ice cream before tax?
A.
B.
C.
D.
$14.10
$18.80
$16.45
$4.70
Show Work.
Challenge A tank can hold 4 kiloliters of chocolate syrup. The contents of this tank need to fill
500,000 containers that will be used as samples of the product. How many milliliters of syrup will
each container hold?