The US gallon is legally defined as 231 cubic inches, which is exactly 3.785411784 liters. A US liquid gallon of water weighs about 8.34 pounds or 3.78 kilograms at 62 °F (17 °C), making it about 16.6% lighter than the imperial gallon. There are four quarts in a gallon, two pints in a quart and 16 US fluid ounces in a US pint, which makes the US fluid ounce equal to 1⁄128 of a US gallon. 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, the volume of petroleum products and alcoholic beverages are both referenced to 60 °F (16 °C) in government regulations.
| Definition | Relation to SI units |
|---|---|
≡ 231 cu in |
| US legal cup | pipe | drop (imperial) | pony | imperial minim | fluid scruple | petaliter | hectoliter |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 0.0005032 | 2,432.6839108 | 10.8204873 | 4,054.4731847 | 202.7236592 | 2.4 × 10-16 | 0.0024 |
| 1,987.3411866 | 1 | 4,834,572.929895 | 21 504 | 8,057,621.5498223 | 402,881.0774932 | 4.76961884784 × 10-13 | 4.7696188 |
| 0.0004111 | 2.0684350293206 × 10-7 | 1 | 0.0044480 | 1.6666667 | 0.0833333 | 9.86564670138 × 10-20 | 9.86564670138 × 10-7 |
| 0.0924173 | 4.6502976190476 × 10-5 | 224.8220299 | 1 | 374.7033831 | 18.7351692 | 2.2180147171875 × 10-17 | 0.0002218 |
| 0.0002466 | 1.2410610175928 × 10-7 | 0.6000000 | 0.0026688 | 1 | 0.0500000 | 5.91938802083 × 10-20 | 5.91938802083 × 10-7 |
| 0.0049328 | 2.482122035173 × 10-6 | 12.0000000 | 0.0533756 | 20.0000000 | 1 | 1.18387760416 × 10-18 | 1.18387760416 × 10-5 |
| 4.1666666666667 × 1015 | 2 096 603 590 144 | 1.0136182961631 × 1019 | 4.5085363602457 × 1016 | 1.6893638269379 × 1019 | 8.4468191347325 × 1017 | 1 | 10 000 000 000 000 |
| 416.6666667 | 0.2096604 | 1,013,618.2961631 | 4,508.5363602 | 1,689,363.8269379 | 84,468.1913473 | 1.0 × 10-13 | 1 |
| Symbol | Definition |
|---|---|
| ≡ | exactly equal |
| ≈ | approximately equal to |
| = | equal to |
| digits | indicates that digits repeat infinitely (e.g. 8.294 369 corresponds to 8.294 369 369 369 369 …) |
| 1 US liquid gallons | = 0.003785411784 cubic meters |
| 2 US liquid gallons | = 0.007570823568 cubic meters |
| 3 US liquid gallons | = 0.011356235352 cubic meters |
| 4 US liquid gallons | = 0.015141647136 cubic meters |
| 5 US liquid gallons | = 0.01892705892 cubic meters |