Volume and Capacity

Volume and capacity are two important concepts that are not only primary but also one of those basic concepts that need to be understood well. These concepts are some things that every child right from their childhood needs to understand. Especially when it comes to geometry in Maths, various objects will be displayed of which the volume and capacity must be calculated. This will also allow the students to solve greater and much harder problems well with some sample problems. 

In our day-to-day lives, we came across so many three-dimensional objects, that occupy a certain volume. The volume of a given substance refers to the total amount of space that it covers, that is when you measure the space region that is taken up by a solid object it is referred to as volume. Conversely, capacity refers to the quantity of something that a container holds. In short, capacity is known as the container’s volume.

Due to many similarities between the two, the volume is usually confused with the capacity. However, there are a few but significant differences between volume and capacity that one can understand when they learn their meaning, unit of the measurement, etc. In this article, we will learn about the difference between volume and capacity, the measurement of volume, and the measurement of capacity. for Class 2.

Let us take a look at the significant differences between the volume and the capacity.

Difference Between Volume and Capacity

What is Meant by Volume?

Let us learn about what is meant by volume in detail in this section.

In mathematics, the term volume is referred to as the amount of the three-dimensional space that is occupied by the matter. It is nothing but space, which is taken up by a substance that can be either solid, liquid, or gas. It measures the overall size of the given closed surface.

The volume of a given object is to be calculated by multiplying its length, width, and height. This is given by:

Generally, it is measured in the cubic units that are cubic litres, cubic meters, cubic centimetres, etc which indicates the number of cubes that are required to fill the object. Further, depending on what is the shape of the object, its volume tends to change. The assessment of the volume of a given object gives you an insight into how much space is covered by the object.

What is Meant by Capacity?

The term capacity is referred to the ability of the hollow object for holding a substance that is either solid, liquid, or gas. It is called a measure that ascertains the amount of space that is available in a container that can be filled with the matter. In other words, the total amount of matter that can be contained in the given object is called the capacity of the container.

You might have observed many times that when you fill air or fluid in any hollow object, it takes the shape of that particular container. Hence, the maximum amount of matter that the container is capable of holding is known as its capacity. Capacity is measured in metric units that are gallons, millilitres, litres, kilolitre, etc.

Example of Volume and Capacity

Consider for example that there is a tank that is filled with water. Hence, the volume refers to the space that is occupied by both the tank and the water inside the tank, whereas, its capacity refers to the quantity of water that is needed to fill the tank.

Consider the illustration given below as an example of volume and capacity.

(image will be uploaded soon)

Focus on the definition and explanation of volume and capacity to understand their differences. Understand the concepts well and determine the use of these two terms properly.