cubic VVV

[James Smith]

No, actually a liter is the volume of exactly 1 kg of
pure water at 3.98 °C and under a pressure of 1 atm.
It is also exactly ten deciliters.  However, because
of a measurement error early in the merification
process, 1 liter equals 1.000027 cubic decimeters.
Within the limits of accuracy for most real-world
measurements, the difference is negligible.

Accurate current reference works give 1 liter =
1.000027 cubic decimeter = 1000.027 cubic centimeters
and 1 milliliter = 1.000027 cubic centimeter.

As I understand - but I may be mislead on this part of
the tale - in the original metric scheme there was no
liter, the cubic centimeter was the standard of volume
 and the liter came to be because of this measurement
error.

--- Chris Waigl <cwaigl at FREE.FR> wrote:

> Joel S. Berson wrote:
>
> Whatever the history[1], one cubic decimeter is
> _exactly_ one liter.
>
> Chris Waigl
>
> [1] I learned this the way Wikipedia explains it:
> "In 1793, the litre
> was introduced in France
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/France> as one of
> the new "Republican Measures", and defined as one
> cubic decimetre. [...]
> In 1901, at the 3rd CGPM
>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conf%C3%A9rence_G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_des_Poids_et_Mesures>
> conference, the litre was redefined as the space
> occupied by 1 kg of
> pure water <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water> at
> the temperature of
> its maximum density (3.98 °C) under a pressure of 1
> atm
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atmospheric_pressure>.
> This made the litre
> equal to about 1.000 028 dm³ (earlier reference
> works usually put it at
> 1.000 027 dm³). [...] In 1964, at the 12th CGPM
>
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conf%C3%A9rence_G%C3%A9n%C3%A9rale_des_Poids_et_Mesures>
> conference, the litre was once again defined in
> exact relation to the
> metre, as another name for the cubic decimetre, that
> is, exactly 1 dm³."
> <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liter>
>



James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.



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