Litre in the context of SI base unit


Litre in the context of SI base unit

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⭐ Core Definition: Litre

The litre (Commonwealth spelling) or liter (American spelling) (SI symbols L and l, other symbol used: ) is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm) or 0.001 cubic metres (m). A cubic decimetre (or litre) occupies a volume of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm (see figure) and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre.

The original French metric system used the litre as a base unit. The word litre is derived from an older French unit, the litron, whose name came from Byzantine Greek—where it was a unit of weight, not volume—via Late Medieval Latin, and which equalled approximately 0.831 litres. The litre was also used in several subsequent versions of the metric system and is accepted for use with the SI, despite it not being an SI unit. The SI unit of volume is the cubic metre (m). The spelling used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures is "litre", a spelling which is shared by most English-speaking countries. The spelling "liter" is predominantly used in American English.

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Litre in the context of Volume

Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch). The definition of length and height (cubed) is interrelated with volume. The volume of a container is generally understood to be the capacity of the container; i.e., the amount of fluid (gas or liquid) that the container could hold, rather than the amount of space the container itself displaces. By metonymy, the term "volume" sometimes is used to refer to the corresponding region (e.g., bounding volume).

In ancient times, volume was measured using similar-shaped natural containers. Later on, standardized containers were used. Some simple three-dimensional shapes can have their volume easily calculated using arithmetic formulas. Volumes of more complicated shapes can be calculated with integral calculus if a formula exists for the shape's boundary. Zero-, one- and two-dimensional objects have no volume; in four and higher dimensions, an analogous concept to the normal volume is the hypervolume.

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Litre in the context of Autogas

Autogas is liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) used as a fuel in internal combustion engines of vehicles as well as in stationary applications such as generators. It is a mixture of propane and butane.

Autogas is widely used as a "green" fuel, as its use reduces CO2 exhaust emissions by around 15% compared to petrol. One litre of petrol produces 2.3 kg of CO2 when burnt, whereas the equivalent amount of autogas (1.33 litres due to the lower density of autogas) produces 2 kg of CO2 when burnt. CO emissions are 30% lower compared to petrol, and NOx is reduced by 50%. It has an octane rating (MON/RON) that is between 90 and 110 and an energy content (higher heating value—HHV) that is between 25.5 megajoules per litre (for pure propane) and 28.7 megajoules per litre (for pure butane) depending upon the actual fuel composition.

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Litre in the context of Jaundice

Jaundice, also known as icterus, is a yellowish or, less frequently, greenish pigmentation of the skin and sclera due to high bilirubin levels. Jaundice in adults typically indicates the presence of underlying diseases involving abnormal heme metabolism, liver dysfunction, or biliary-tract obstruction. The prevalence of jaundice in adults is rare, while jaundice in babies is common, with an estimated 80% affected during their first week of life. The most commonly associated symptoms of jaundice are itchiness, pale feces, and dark urine.

Normal levels of bilirubin in blood are below 1.0 mg/dl (17 μmol/L), while levels over 2–3 mg/dl (34–51 μmol/L) typically result in jaundice. High blood bilirubin is divided into two types: unconjugated and conjugated bilirubin.

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Litre in the context of Metric unit

The metric system is a system of measurement that standardises a set of base units and a nomenclature for describing relatively large and small quantities via decimal-based multiplicative unit prefixes. Though the rules governing the metric system have changed over time, the modern definition, the International System of Units (SI), defines the metric prefixes and seven base units: metre (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), and candela (cd).

An SI derived unit is a named combination of base units such as hertz (cycles per second), newton (kg⋅m/s), and tesla (1 kg⋅s⋅A) and in the case of Celsius a shifted scale from Kelvin. Certain units have been officially accepted for use with the SI. Some of these are decimalised, like the litre and electronvolt, and are considered "metric". Others, like the astronomical unit are not. Ancient non-metric but SI-accepted multiples of time, minute and hour, are base 60 (sexagesimal). Similarly, the angular measure degree and submultiples, arcminute, and arcsecond, are also sexagesimal and SI-accepted.

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Litre in the context of Gallon

The gallon is a unit of volume in British imperial units and United States customary units.

The imperial gallon (imp gal) is defined as 4.54609 litres, and is or was used in the United Kingdom and its former colonies, including Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India, South Africa, Malaysia and some Caribbean countries, while the US gallon (US gal) is defined as 231 cubic inches (3.785411784 L), and is used in the United States and some Latin American and Caribbean countries.

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Litre in the context of Moldovan wine

Moldova has a well-established wine industry. With a production of around 2 million hectolitres of wine (as of 2018), it is the 11th largest European wine-producing country. Moldova has a vineyard area of 148,500 hectares (367,000 acres) of which 107,800 hectares (266,000 acres) are used for commercial production. The remaining 40,700 hectares (101,000 acres) are vineyards planted in villages around the houses used to make home-made wine. Many families have their own recipes and strands of grapes that have been passed down through generations. There are 3 historical wine regions: Valul lui Traian (south west), Ștefan Vodă (south east) and Codru (centre), destined for the production of wines with protected geographic indication.

In 2022 the majority of wines were exported, being sent to 75 countries, with 60% of wine produced being exported to European Union countries.

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Litre in the context of Osm/L

Osmotic concentration, formerly known as osmolarity, is the measure of solute concentration, defined as the number of osmoles (Osm) of solute per litre (L) of solution (osmol/L or Osm/L). The osmolarity of a solution is usually expressed as Osm/L (pronounced "osmolar"), in the same way that the molarity of a solution is expressed as "M" (pronounced "molar").

Whereas molarity measures the number of moles of solute per unit volume of solution, osmolarity measures the number of particles on dissociation of osmotically active material (osmoles of solute particles) per unit volume of solution. This value allows the measurement of the osmotic pressure of a solution and the determination of how the solvent will diffuse across a semipermeable membrane (osmosis) separating two solutions of different osmotic concentration.

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Litre in the context of Phagocyte

Phagocytes are cells that protect the body by ingesting harmful foreign particles, bacteria, and dead or dying cells. They include monocytes, macrophages, neutrophils, tissue dendritic cells, and mast cells. Their name comes from the Greek phagein, "to eat" or "devour", and "-cyte", the suffix in biology denoting "cell", from the Greek kutos, "hollow vessel". They are essential for fighting infections and for subsequent immunity. Phagocytes are important throughout the animal kingdom and are highly developed within vertebrates. One litre of human blood contains about six billion phagocytes. They were discovered in 1882 by Ilya Ilyich Mechnikov while he was studying starfish larvae. Mechnikov was awarded the 1908 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his discovery. Phagocytes occur in many species; some amoebae behave like macrophage phagocytes, which suggests that phagocytes appeared early in the evolution of life.

Phagocytes of humans and other animals are called "professional" or "non-professional" depending on how effective they are at phagocytosis. The professional phagocytes include many types of white blood cells (such as neutrophils, monocytes, macrophages, mast cells, and dendritic cells). The main difference between professional and non-professional phagocytes is that the professional phagocytes have molecules called receptors on their surfaces that can detect harmful objects, such as bacteria, that are not normally found in the body. Non-professional phagocytes do not have efficient phagocytic receptors, such as those for opsonins. Phagocytes are crucial in fighting infections, as well as in maintaining healthy tissues by removing dead and dying cells that have reached the end of their lifespan.

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Litre in the context of Volumetric heat capacity

The volumetric heat capacity of a material is the heat capacity of a sample of the substance divided by the volume of the sample. It is the amount of energy that must be added, in the form of heat, to one unit of volume of the material in order to cause an increase of one unit in its temperature. The SI unit of volumetric heat capacity is joule per kelvin per cubic meter, J⋅K⋅m.

The volumetric heat capacity can also be expressed as the specific heat capacity (heat capacity per unit of mass, in J⋅K⋅kg) times the density of the substance (in kg/L, or g/mL). It is defined to serve as an intensive property.

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Litre in the context of Glass bottle

Common uses for bottles made from glass include food condiments, soda, liquor, cosmetics, pickling and preservatives; they are occasionally also notably used for the informal distribution of notes. A glass bottle can vary in size considerably, but are most commonly found in sizes ranging between about 200 millilitres and 1.5 litres.

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Litre in the context of Decimetre

The decimetre (or decimeter in American English; symbol: dm) is a unit of length in the International System of Units, equal to one tenth of a metre, ten centimetres, one hundred millimetres, and 3.937 inches.

The common non-SI metric unit of volume, the litre, is defined as one cubic decimetre, although, from 1901 to 1964, there was a slight difference between the two due to the litre being defined using the kilogram rather than the metre.

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Litre in the context of List of oil spills

This is a reverse-chronological list of oil spills that have occurred throughout the world and spill(s) that are currently ongoing. Quantities are measured in tonnes of crude oil with one tonne roughly equal to 308 US gallons, 256 Imperial gallons, 7.33 barrels, or 1165 litres. This calculation uses a median value of 0.858 for the specific gravity of light crude oil; actual values can range from 0.816 to 0.893, so the amounts shown below are inexact. They are also estimates, because the actual volume of an oil spill is difficult to measure exactly.

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Litre in the context of Mark 77 bomb

The Mark 77 bomb (MK-77) is a United States 750-pound (340 kg) air-dropped incendiary bomb carrying 110 U.S. gallons (416 L; 92 imp gal) of a fuel gel mix which is the direct successor to napalm.

The MK-77 is the primary incendiary weapon currently in use by the United States military. Instead of the gasoline, polystyrene, and benzene mixture used in napalm bombs, the MK-77 uses kerosene-based fuel with a lower concentration of benzene. The Pentagon has claimed that the MK-77 has less impact on the environment than napalm. The mixture reportedly also contains an oxidizing agent, making it more difficult to put out once ignited, as well as white phosphorus.

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Litre in the context of Gram per cubic centimetre

The gram per cubic centimetre is a unit of density in International System of Units (SI), and is commonly used in chemistry. Its official SI symbols are g/cm, g·cm, or g cm. It is equal to the units gram per millilitre (g/mL) and kilogram per litre (kg/L). It is defined by dividing the gram, a unit of mass, by the cubic centimetre, a unit of volume. It is a coherent unit in the CGS system, but is not a coherent unit of the SI.

The density of water is approximately 1 g/cm, since the gram was originally defined as the mass of one cubic centimetre of water at its maximum density at approximately 4 °C (39 °F).

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Litre in the context of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine

The Moderna COVID‑19 vaccine, sold under the brand name Spikevax among others, is a COVID-19 vaccine developed by the American company Moderna, the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID), and the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA). Depending on the jurisdiction, it is authorized for use in humans aged six months, twelve years, or eighteen years and older. The Moderna COVID‑19 vaccine provides protection against COVID-19, which is caused by infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In May 2025, a different version of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine, with the brand name Mnexspike (mRNA-1283), was approved for medical use in the United States.

Spikevax is designed to be administered in two or three 0.5-mL doses given by intramuscular injection, primarily into the deltoid muscle, at an interval of at least 28 days apart. The World Health Organization advises an eight-week interval between doses to optimize efficacy. Additional booster doses are approved in some regions to maintain immunity. Clinical trials and real-world data have demonstrated the vaccine's high efficacy, with significant effectiveness observed two weeks post-administration of the second dose, offering 94% protection against Covid and robust defense against severe cases. The vaccine's efficacy spans various demographics, including age, sex, and those with high-risk medical conditions.

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