Gallon - Definitions

Definitions

There is one gallon defined in the imperial system but two (liquid and dry) in the US customary system.

The imperial gallon

The imperial (UK) gallon, defined as 4.54609 litres, is used in some Commonwealth countries and was originally based on the volume of 10 pounds of water at 62 °F (17 °C). (A US liquid gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds at the same temperature.) The imperial fluid ounce is defined as 1⁄160 of an imperial gallon.

The US liquid gallon

The US gallon, which is equal to 3.785411784 litres is legally defined as 231 cubic inches. There are four quarts in a gallon, two pints in a quart and sixteen fluid ounces in a pint. In order to overcome the effects of expansion and contraction with temperature when using a gallon to specify a quantity of material for purposes of trade, it is common to define the temperature at which the material will occupy the specified volume. For example, for purposes of trade, the volume of petroleum products and alcoholic beverages are both referenced to 60 °F (16 °C).


The US dry gallon

This gallon is one-eighth of a US Winchester bushel of 2150.42 cubic inches, thus it is equal to exactly 268.8025 cubic inches or 4.40488377086 L. The US dry gallon is less commonly used, and is not listed in the relevant statute, which jumps from the dry quart to the peck.

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