Volume

This article is about physical object; for meaning from audio field, see loudness.

The volume of an object is a measure of the amount of space occupied by that object, and is not to be confused with mass. The volume of a mountain is much larger than the volume of a rock, for instance.

By convention, the word volume implies a three-dimensional context where:

  • The length is the longest distance between the object's extremities.
  • The width (or breadth) refers to the size of the object in a direction perpendicular to its length.
  • The height (or depth) stands for the size of that object in the direction perpendicular to both the length and the width.

For objects at or near the Earth's surface, height or depth often refers to the dimension of the object along the local vertical. All physical objects occupy a volume, even if some are so thin that they appear to be two-dimensional, like a sheet of paper.


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