# So, how many gallons in a cubic meter?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [June 11, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749 "2010-06-11T03:26:20Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 3:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/1 "2010-06-11T03:26:20Z")
I was reading [this article](http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100611/US.Gulf.Oil.Spill.Flow/) and came upon a perplexing quote:
> [@](#):
>
> After the news conference, the Department of Interior said in a press release that the scientists who based their calculations on video say the best estimate for oil flow before the riser was cut was between 1.05 million gallons a day and 1.26 million gallons a day. That release mentioned only a cubic meter per second rate from Woods Hole, not a rate that translated into actual amounts.
I don’t know what’s up with those guys at Woods Hole not releasing rates quantifiable in ‘actual amounts’. Still, sometimes I waste time asking stupid questions (kind of like a hobby), and today I wonder how many gallons there are in a cubic meter.
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### Author:  [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/2 "2010-06-11T03:29:03Z")
264.1721
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/3 "2010-06-11T03:33:18Z")
A cool thing about questions like this is that you can get the answer by typing:
gallons in a cubic meter
into the google search screen and it tells you immediately.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/4 "2010-06-11T03:34:21Z")
Also, if you want to do any kind of unit conversions, Google will do that for you. Just type in “1 cubic meter in US gallons” (or any other amount or units.) For example, “1.26 million gallons in cubic meters” will give you the answer: “1.26 million US gallons = 4 769.61885 cubic meters.”
edit: Beaten to the punch.
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### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 4:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/5 "2010-06-11T04:51:01Z")
Yeah, but is that an ‘actual amount’?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/6 "2010-06-11T05:34:51Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Yeah, but is that an ‘actual amount’?
What do you mean by “actual amount”? I see the quote you’ve posted, but I have no idea what the article means by “actual amount” in that context. 264 gallons _is_ 1 cubic meter. I don’t see what’s not “actual” about that.
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### Author:  [@GameHat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GameHat)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/7 "2010-06-11T05:36:39Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> Yeah, but is that an ‘actual amount’?
Yes, gallons in a cubic meter is a perfectly defined number.
The uncertainty comes in when the DOI (or whoever) tries to convert a rough estimate (Uh…maybe a m^3/s?) into a different unit (uh…maybe 1.05 to 1.26 gal a day?)
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/8 "2010-06-11T05:36:54Z")
According to Google:
1 ((cubic meter) per second) = 22 824 465.3 US gallons per day
So I don’t know how 1 cubic meter per second becomes an estimate of about one to one and a quarter million gallons a day.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 5:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/9 "2010-06-11T05:45:37Z")
> [@jasg](#):
>
> A cool thing about questions like this is that you can get the answer by typing:
>
> gallons in a cubic meter
>
> into the google search screen and it tells you immediately.
At the risk of sounding overly pedantic, there are _three_ different gallons and the Google calculater seems to silently assume you want U.S. liquid gallons.
Since this is _British_ Petroleum one wonders if they make quantities seem smaller by quoting in _Imperial gallons_ which are 20% larger than U.S. liquid gallons.
Finally, one may sometimes encounter the U.S. _dry_ gallon, 1/8 of a bushel (though the U.S. bushel is slightly smaller tha an Imperial bushel).
Just saying.
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### Author:  [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/10 "2010-06-11T06:00:00Z")
For Imperial gallons you can get a good estimate in your head:
One cubic metre of fresh water = 1 tonne
One tonne = 1 Imperial ton (approx) = 2240 lb
One Imperial gallon of fresh water = 10 lb (definition)
==\> one cubic metre = 224 gallons approx.
If you want to get closer you can even start looking things up.
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/11 "2010-06-11T06:00:18Z")
> [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](#):
>
> I was reading [this article](http://www.comcast.net/articles/news-general/20100611/US.Gulf.Oil.Spill.Flow/) and came upon a perplexing quote:
>
> I don’t know what’s up with those guys at Woods Hole not releasing rates quantifiable in ‘actual amounts’. Still, sometimes I waste time asking stupid questions (kind of like a hobby), and today I wonder how many gallons there are in a cubic meter.
Ah, wait, I think I understand this now.
The article is not saying the oil is gushing out at a rate of one cubic meter per second. It’s saying that the release by the Department of the Interior gave a rate expressed in cubic meters per second, whose amount apparently converts to 1.05 million - 1.26 million US gallons per day.
So, this amount is a _rate_, not an actual amount. It’s telling you how much and how fast the oil is gushing out, but not giving you an actual number of how much oil over time has gushed out. You need to figure out how long it’s been gushing out at that rate to find out the actual amount of oil spilled.
Or so I interpret that paragraph.
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### Author:  [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 9:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/12 "2010-06-11T09:51:25Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> _Imperial gallons_ which are 20% larger than U.S. liquid gallons.
Oops. :smack: I meant that the U.S. gallon was 20% smaller. 🆒
BTW, has anyone here ever had to convert a _survey foot_ to _International inches_ ? :eek:
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### Author:  [@\_Undecided\_Adrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/_Undecided_Adrian)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 12:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/13 "2010-06-11T12:09:28Z")
Grraah.
That is all.
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### Author:  [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/14 "2010-06-11T13:47:03Z")
> [@pulykamell](#):
>
> Ah, wait, I think I understand this now.
>
> The article is not saying the oil is gushing out at a rate of one cubic meter per second. It’s saying that the release by the Department of the Interior gave a rate expressed in cubic meters per second, whose amount apparently converts to 1.05 million - 1.26 million US gallons per day.
>
> So, this amount is a _rate_, not an actual amount. It’s telling you how much and how fast the oil is gushing out, but not giving you an actual number of how much oil over time has gushed out. You need to figure out how long it’s been gushing out at that rate to find out the actual amount of oil spilled.
>
> Or so I interpret that paragraph.
Yes, converting from cubic meters/second to gallons per day is an excellent 6th grade math problem. Apparently none of those reporters passed 6th grade math, or have 6th graders at home. Of course, the article also has ridiculous but beloved journalistic comparisons like:
> [@](#):
>
> If those 63 million gallons of oil were put in gallon milk jugs, they would line up side by side for nearly 5,500 miles. That’s the distance from the spill to London, where BP is headquartered, and then continuing on to Rome.
What if you put the oil in juice boxes, and laid them end to end? Then they would reach almost 1/3 of the way to the moon!
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### Author:  [@regginbrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/regginbrow)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/15 "2010-06-11T14:58:08Z")
The _actual_ amount per day also depends on the _actual_ rate. If the oil is coming out at a constant rate, then this is a simple unit conversion. However, if the oil isn’t coming out at a constant cubic meter per second, but actually at a varying rate whose variation is difficult or impossible to determine, this also complicates calculating the ‘actual’ amount of oil coming out per day.
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 3:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/16 "2010-06-11T15:21:48Z")
> [@septimus](#):
>
> Oops. :smack: I meant that the U.S. gallon was 20% smaller. 🆒
>
> BTW, has anyone here ever had to convert a _survey foot_ to _International inches_ ? :eek:
… or the Kessel run to sideral days?
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### Author:  [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/17 "2010-06-11T16:25:02Z")
[Here’s the press release that is referenced.](http://www.doi.gov/news/pressreleases/Admiral-Allen-Dr-McNutt-Provide-Updates-on-Progress-of-Scientific-Teams-Analyzing-Flow-Rates-from-BPs-Well.cfm)
> [@](#):
>
> Woods Hole Oceanographic’s initial total flow rate estimate of 0.12m3/s to 0.23m3/s from before the riser was cut is a preliminary bulk flow estimate.
That converts to a range of 2,738,935.84 US gallons per day to 5,249,627.02 US gallons per day. So I’m still not sure where the 1.05 million to 1.26 million number comes from. It does also say:
> [@](#):
>
> This outflow may contain gases, liquids, and solids including natural gas, condensates, oil, sediments, and produced water.
So perhaps there’s an adjustment downward to account for this, but I can’t find any solid numbers, just this statement in Woods Hole PDF link on that web page:
> [@](#):
>
> A comprehensive understanding of the source composition (e.g., percentage gas, oil, sediment, brine) is needed to
> accurately estimate the petroleum leak rate and mass balance.
So, I have no idea where those numbers are coming from.
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/18 "2010-06-11T17:58:07Z")
> [@](#):
>
> … or the Kessel run to sideral days?
[Here you go](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=12+parsecs+%2F+c+in+sidereal+days&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=19d13023017841d)
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### Author:  [@jasg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jasg)
#### Post date: [June 11, 2010, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/19 "2010-06-11T20:57:46Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> [Here you go](http://www.google.com/#hl=en&source=hp&q=12+parsecs+%2F+c+in+sidereal+days&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=&fp=19d13023017841d)
Well, yeah if you include that ‘c’ fudge factor…but did Han and Chewie stay right at 1 light all the way? 😉
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### Author:  [@Try2B\_Comprehensive](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Try2B_Comprehensive)
#### Post date: [June 12, 2010, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-how-many-gallons-in-a-cubic-meter/542749/20 "2010-06-12T03:38:21Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#):
>
> What if you put the oil in juice boxes, and laid them end to end? Then they would reach almost 1/3 of the way to the moon!
I doubt juice boxes is an ‘actual amount’. It has to be gallons; therefore Rome is okay. Or barrels. Just piling up in London. But not the moon
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