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Weight is measured in ounces and pounds (avoirdupois) as in the U.S. Volume is measured in imperial gallons, quarts, pints, fluid ounces, fluid drachms, and minims. The imperial gallon was originally defined as 10 pounds (4.5359 kg) of water in 1824, and refined as exactly 4.54609 litres in 1985.
[5] In 1824, the British Parliament defined the imperial gallon as the volume of ten pounds of water at standard temperature. [2] The gallon was divided into four quarts, the quart into two pints, the pint into four gills, and the gill into five ounces; thus, there were 160 imperial fluid ounces to the gallon.
The table of imperial avoirdupois mass is the same as the United States table up to one pound, but above that point, the tables differ. The imperial system has a hundredweight, defined as eight stone of 14 lb each, or 112 lb (50.802 345 44 kg), whereas a US hundredweight is 100 lb (45.359 237 kg). In both systems, 20 hundredweights make a ton.
See Weight for detail of mass/weight distinction and conversion. Avoirdupois is a system of mass based on a pound of 16 ounces, while Troy weight is the system of mass where 12 troy ounces equals one troy pound. The symbol g 0 is used to denote standard gravity in order to avoid confusion with the (upright) g symbol for gram.
The imperial gallon was defined as the volume of 10 pounds of distilled water weighed in air with brass weights with the barometer standing at 30 inches of mercury (100 kilopascals; 15 pounds per square inch) and at a temperature of 62 °F (16.7 °C), which was calculated as 277.274 in 3 (or 4.543 706 784 L to ten significant figures).
The saying, "a pint's a pound the world around", refers to 16 US fluid ounces of water weighing approximately (about 4% more than) one pound avoirdupois. An imperial pint of water weighs a pound and a quarter ( 20 oz ).
One litre is about 5.7% larger than a US liquid quart, and about 12% smaller than an imperial quart. A mnemonic for its volume relative to an imperial pint is "a litre of water's a pint and three-quarters"; this is very close, as a litre is about 1.760 imperial pints. A cubic foot has a volume of exactly 28.316 846 592 L.
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in both the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement.Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms, and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. [1]