Converting durations and volumes

Duration conversions

Time is not converted in base 10 like lengths: base 60 is used for seconds, minutes, and hours.

Unit	Equivalence
1 min	60 s
1 h	60 min = 3600 s
1 day	24 h

Example: convert 2 h 15 min to seconds. 2 h = 2 x 3600 = 7200 s, and 15 min = 15 x 60 = 900 s. Total: 7200 + 900 = 8100 s.

For very small durations, prefixes are used as usual: 1 ms = 0.001 s and 1 microsecond = 0.000001 s.

Volume conversions

The liter (L) is the common unit of volume, but in physics we often use the cubic meter (m^3). The relation is: 1 m^3 = 1000 L, and therefore 1 L = 1 dm^3 = 0.001 m^3.

Volume	Equivalence
1 m^3	1000 L
1 L	1 dm^3
1 mL	1 cm^3

Example: convert 2.5 m^3 to liters: 2.5 x 1000 = 2500 L.

Common pitfall

For time, definitely do not use base 10 as for lengths (60 minutes in an hour, not 100!). For volumes, remember that 1 L = 1 dm^3 and not 1 m^3, otherwise conversions give results a thousand times too large or too small.