If you want to convert one set of units into another, there are so many easy ways to do it today. The most popular one, of course, is to just type in your query into a search engine like Google and wait for it to spit out the answer (while also not-so-quietly boasting about how quickly it managed to give you the answer).
But if you are looking to find answers to these questions the old-fashioned way, you will have to know the formula. For instance, if you wanted to find out the answer to the question: how much is 2 liters of water and its equivalent is in gallons, you are going to have to know what a liter is, what a gallon is and how to convert liters to gallons.
A Quick Look at the Two Definitions
The formula that helps you convert liters to gallons is actually used when it comes to solving equations involving fluids. But before that, let’s take a quick look at the definitions of both terms.
Liters
A liter measures SI volume in the metric system and is equal to 1,000 cubic centimeters. So it is what you say when you are measure volume of one single cubic decimeter.
The abbreviation for this unit of measure is l or L. So, if you are weighing fluids like water, it is the equivalent of one kilogram.
Gallons
Gallons are the unit of measurement for volume in the US liquid gallon system. A single gallon is the measure of 16 cups which could be eight pints or four quarts. But this is not the same as the imperial gallon or the US dry gallon.
Gallon is used customarily in the US and the abbreviation for this unit of measure is gal, not to be confused with the colloquialism for a young woman.
The Conversion Formula
As mentioned earlier, liters and gallons are both used to calculate the volume of fluids in mathematic problems. And this is the formula to convert a liter into gallon:
1 liter = 0.264172 gallons
So, if you want to calculate how many gallons two liters of water comes up to, you need to do:
Gallons = 2 (liters) x 0.264172
2 liters = 0.528344 gallons
So, two liters of water comes up to 0.528344 liters of the same. You can change the formula around to calculate the number of liters in a gallon.
One liter = 3.78541 gallons
So, if you want to find out how many gallons are in ‘x’ liters, you just divide 3.785 by the number of liters.
Summary
These formulae come in pretty handy when you have to convert the volume of any fluid from one system to the other. The US, unlike many other parts of the world, does not use the metric system and hence, these conversions become very important. The more common conversions involve kilometers to miles and also any given currency to the US dollar.
