Decilitres, WTF?

[ChrisFilter]

So what actually is a deci-something? A decimetre is what, 10 centimeters?

 

[selamlar]

So what actually is a deci-something? A decimetre is what, 10 centimeters?

See! SEE! Not everybody knows!

Pico-, nano-, micro-, milli-, centi-, deci-, 1, deca-, hecto-, kilo-, mega-, giga-, tera-,

innit.

SI units, or latin, depending on your starting point. One decilitre is one tenth of a litre, by virtue of the same fact that 1 centilitre is one hundredth of a litre and 1 millilitre, one thousanth.

1 decilitre is also equivalent to 100 cubic centimetres, and if we are talking about pure water at standard temperature and pressure, weighs exactly 100 g.

Fun with the metric system, eh!

 

[MikeMcc]

See! SEE! Not everybody knows!

femto = 1/1,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^-15
pico = 1/1,000,000,000,000 = 10^-12
nano = 1/1,000,000,000 = 10^-9
micro = 1/1,000,000 = 10^-6
milli = 1/1,000 = 10^-3
centi = 1/100 = 10^-2
deci = 1/10 = 10^-1

deca = 1 x 10 = 10^1
hecta = 1 x 100 = 10^2
kilo = 1 x 1,000 = 10^3
Mega = 1 x 1,000,000 = 10^6
Giga = 1 x 1,000,000,000 = 10^9
Tera = 1 x 1,000,000,000,000 = 10^12
Peta = 1 x 1,000,000,000,000,000 = 10^15

These can prefix most units, centimetres, millimeters, picoFarads, Megawatts,...

Deci just means that it's a 1/10th of a unit, so a decilitre is 0.1 litres = 100ml. The point is (as mentioned earlier, it gives an idea of a level of accuracy required. If you quote that you want 0.3dl of milk in a recipe you are meaning its fine for it to be anywhere from 250ml to 350ml. Expressing it as 300ml implies that you want it accurate to 299.5ml to 300.5ml, even if that is not realistic.

 

[maya]

Never in 2 years of A-level chemistry, biology or physics was a deci-anything mentioned, never heard them being used while working in a lab either, but I've noticed on quite a few other forums that people often mention decilitres when writing recipes etc. This is a worrying new trend, more worrying than global warming. It could have profound implications on us all.

OK maybe not, but what is the benefit of using them instead of just using millilitres and litres? Seems really pointless to me. And I've never seen a measuring jug with dl and cl on...

all measuring jugs in northern europe (probably all of europe except the UK) have litre, decilitre, centilitre, millilitre on them...

but litre and decilitre are most frequently used, as any smaller quantities would be impractical for cooking (unless you were making a meal for your pet mouse or miniature doll or something)

i've never used any other system, and imperial measures confuse me... although i vaguely remember learing that system at school, in books from 1960 with pictures of little black-suited men with bowler hats on.
but i guess UK is still recovering from the switch(?)

occasionally a mysterious yankee import will pop up with "cups" and so on, but i dunno how to use it. wtf is a 'cup?' is it an ordinary, uh... cup? or some sort of ultra-special american invention that nobody else know how to measure?

 

[Herbsman.]

A cup is a standard volume that measures 236ml (us) or 250ml (uk). You can buy sets of measuring cups like this

If you look carefully you can see that the biggest one is 1 cup, the next one down is 1/2 and so on

 

[maya]

A cup is a standard volume that measures 236ml (us) or 250ml (uk). You can buy sets of measuring cups like this

If you look carefully you can see that the biggest one is 1 cup, the next one down is 1/2 and so on

ah! ok- i got a plastic set like that from IKEA once, to endless puzzlement

(all my recipes are written with litres- decilitres, tablespoon- teaspoon measurements... caluculating that into cups were just too massive/impractical a task to ever attempt it)

 

[Herbsman.]

youre not meant to calculate anything into cups!!!!

the idea of cups is so that you can follow recipes that use cups, if you come across one.