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#3664625 - 10/17/12 06:19 PM Cat litter in litres?  
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Mace71 Offline
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I buy the stuff every week and get 10 litres of it but only today did I stop and wonder why litres? I thought only liquids were measured in litres? But according to Wikipedia:

Quote:
Litres are most commonly used for items (such as fluids and solids that can be poured) which are measured by the capacity or size of their container, whereas cubic metres (and derived units) are most commonly used for items measured either by their dimensions or their displacements. The litre is often also used in some calculated measurements, such as density (kg/L), allowing an easy comparison with the density of water.

One litre of water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram when measured at its maximal density, which occurs at about 4 °C. Similarly: 1 millilitre of water has a mass of about 1 g; 1000 litres of water has a mass of about 1000 kg . This relationship holds because the gram was originally defined as the mass of 1 mL of water; however, this definition was abandoned in 1799 because the density of water changes with temperature and, very slightly, with pressure.


Notice this "One litre of water has a mass of almost exactly one kilogram when measured at its maximal density, which occurs at about 4 °C."? Why not just measure in Kgs then?

Still seems odd to me smile


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#3664629 - 10/17/12 06:26 PM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: Mace71]  
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It could just be the way they measure out the bags at the factory.
Essentially, litres is just like cubic metres in that it's a volumetric unit rather than a mass-based one.
At the end of the day, I guess it's just convenient for them.


(What unit you use, whether cu ft/m^3 or mass depends on what the fixed part you want is. A cubic metre of something will probably weigh different depending on the temp or pressure you have it at. Vice versa; a kilo of air has a different volume at different temps. But yeah, convenience. Pay for petrol in cubic metres in winter, pay for it in mass in the summer. Less is more, more is less...)

#3664738 - 10/17/12 10:12 PM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: Mace71]  
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I'm guessing because the different types of kitty litter mass differently, so you get a more fair amount if you measure the volume and hence in litres rather than kilograms.


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#3664867 - 10/18/12 02:49 AM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: Mace71]  
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First time I heard about solids measured in litres. But, even if it's how Billzilla says, how does that work? I mean, for the customer a litre lacks meaning, you're not gonna mix it with water or have it in any other liquid form...

Oh, for what I can see on the mighty Internet (never saw a cat litter in my life), the reason seems to be that cat litter boxes have a size in litres. I guess you measure width x height x length and you know how many litres you have to buy to fill it?


BTW, Americans asking "what is that litre you keep talking about?" in 3... 2... 1... smile


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#3665432 - 10/18/12 10:26 PM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: WileECoyote]  
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Billzilla Offline
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Originally Posted By: WileECoyote
First time I heard about solids measured in litres. But, even if it's how Billzilla says, how does that work? I mean, for the customer a litre lacks meaning, you're not gonna mix it with water or have it in any other liquid form...


Same way you measure the capacity of an engine in litres. It's just a volume, doesn't matter what's in it.


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#3665447 - 10/18/12 10:47 PM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: Mace71]  
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I don't have a cat so I never really thought about it before, but it makes sense to me. You don't really care about how much it weighs, but how much you'll need to fill your litter box, so a volume measurement seems to fit the use better.


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#3666214 - 10/20/12 12:52 AM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: Mace71]  
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WileECoyote Offline
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Well yeah, but for that matter why don't they just use a cubic unit, like cm3. Maybe because of that mix of systems that the Internet tells me exists in the UK?


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#3666312 - 10/20/12 05:08 AM Re: Cat litter in litres? [Re: WileECoyote]  
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Originally Posted By: WileECoyote
Well yeah, but for that matter why don't they just use a cubic unit, like cm3. Maybe because of that mix of systems that the Internet tells me exists in the UK?


Because people have no idea how much 10 cubic-cm are. They know how much 10 litres are.


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