Q:

# How much does one liter of water weigh?

A:

A single liter of water weighs precisely one kilogram, or 2.20 pounds. This is because liters and kilograms have historically been defined in terms of one another.

When the metric system was first developed by a group commissioned by France's Louis XVI, a unit of mass called the grave was defined as being the weight of a block of ice one liter in size. The grave was later renamed the liter by the French Republic after Louis XVI was disposed. In 1889, the kilogram was redefined as being the mass of an example weight of platinum-iridium kept in the International Bureau of Weights and Measures. In 1901, the liter was redefined as being the volume of pure water that has the same weight as that platinum-iridium mass. Since 1964, the liter has been defined as being a volume of water that weighs exactly one kilogram, or 2.20 pounds.

## Similar Questions

• A:

A liter is the metric unit of volume, not of mass or weight. The weight of a substance occupying 1 liter depends entirely on its density. For example, water has a density of approximately 1 gram per milliliter; hence, 1 liter of water weighs about 1 kilogram, or 2.2 lbs.

Filed Under:
• A:

A milliliter is 1/1,000 of a liter, meaning that there are 1,000 milliliters in a liter. A liter is a measurement of volume in the metric system. Converting to different units of volume within the system is easy and generally requires only moving the decimal point.

Filed Under:
• A:

One liter has the volume of approximately one million cubic millimeters. Cubic millimeters are an expression of volume, and one liter of water at standard pressure and maximum density generally occupies this volume amount.