Capacity
units of capacity
Capacity is the amount of liquid (or other pourable substance) that an object can hold when it’s full. There are five main units for measuring capacity in the U.S. customary measurement system – fluid ounce, cup, pint, quart, and gallon.
| Unit Equivalents | Conversion Factors (heavier to lighter units of measurement) | Conversion Factors (lighter to heavier units of measurement) |
| [latex]1[/latex] cup = [latex]8[/latex] fluid ounces | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{1 cup}}{\text{8 fluid ounces}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{8 fluid ounces}}{\text{1 cup}}[/latex] |
| [latex]1[/latex] pint = [latex]2[/latex] cups | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{1 pint}}{2\text{ cups}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{2\text{ cups}}{1\text{ pint}}[/latex] |
| [latex]1[/latex] quart = [latex]2[/latex] pints | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{1 quart}}{2\text{ pints}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{2\text{ pints}}{\text{1 quart}}[/latex] |
| [latex]1[/latex] quart = [latex]4[/latex] cups | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{1 quart}}{4\text{ cups}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{4\text{ cups}}{\text{1 quart}}[/latex] |
| [latex]1[/latex] gallon = [latex]4[/latex] quarts | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{1 gallon}}{4\text{ quarts}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{4\text{ quarts}}{\text{1 gallon}}[/latex] |
| [latex]1[/latex] gallon = [latex]16[/latex] cups | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{1\text{ gallon}}{\text{16 cups}}[/latex] | [latex]\displaystyle \frac{\text{16 cups}}{1\text{ gallon}}[/latex] |
Sometimes you will need to convert between units of measurement. For example, you might want to express [latex]5[/latex] gallons of lemonade in cups if you are trying to determine how many [latex]8[/latex] fluid ounce servings the amount of lemonade would yield. As with converting units of length and weight, you can use the factor label method to convert from one unit of capacity to another.