US Liquid Barrels to US Cups (bbl (US) to cup)

1 US liquid barrel equals 504 US cups exactly.

1 US liquid barrel = 504 US cups

How to convert US liquid barrels to US cups

To convert US liquid barrels to US cups, multiply the number of US liquid barrels by 504. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply US cups by 0.001984126984 (rounded).

US cups = US liquid barrels × 504

Example: 10 US liquid barrels = 5,040 US cups.

Pints, quarts, gallons and fluid ounces differ between the US and the UK. Units are labeled 'US' or 'imperial' to avoid confusion.

About these units

US Liquid Barrel (bbl (US))

US customaryTraditional unit (still used in some regions)

31.5 US gallons (119.24 L). The standard US barrel for liquids such as beer.

Most American fluid barrels are set at 31.5 US gallons, which works out to about 119 litres (119.24 L as used here). That is a half of the old 63 gallon wine hogshead, so the liquid barrel is a direct descendant of the English wine-gallon system rather than of any grain measure. Beer is the best known use, though the common US beer keg barrel is slightly smaller at 31 gallons, about 117 litres.

The English name came from French baril. Colonial and later American law treated the barrel as a trade unit for wine, beer, cider and spirits, but other liquids, from molasses to petroleum, were sold in containers of other sizes, so the phrase barrel never meant a single universal amount.

Confusion with its neighbours is common. It is roughly 3 percent larger than the dry barrel of 7,056 cubic inches, and well short of the 42 gallon barrel used for oil. The 63 gallon hogshead is exactly twice its size.

1 US liquid barrel = 119.2404712 liters (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Barrel (unit); Wikipedia: Hogshead

US Cup (cup)

US customaryCurrent unit

One sixteenth of a US gallon, 236.588 mL (8 US fluid ounces). The standard US recipe cup.

Cups began as household drinking vessels, not scientific units, which is why they remain the messiest measures in the kitchen. The US customary cup was defined by slicing up the gallon: half a pint, or eight US fluid ounces, about 236.6 milliliters. Unlike the larger units, nobody ever fixed it to a physical vessel, so it exists only as a fraction of the gallon.

The customary cup is not the only American cup. For nutrition labels, US regulation defines a cup as exactly 240 milliliters, a rounder figure that sits slightly above the customary size. Packaged foods therefore list a serving in the legal cup while a measuring cup from the hardware store follows the customary definition. The gap is 3.4 milliliters, which hardly matters for soup but can matter in baking. Cup measures also hide the weight of dry ingredients, since a cup of sifted flour and a cup of packed flour differ substantially, which is why much of the world prefers grams.

1 US cup = 0.2365882365 liters (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Cup (unit); NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8: conversion factors for volume; 21 CFR 101.9: nutrition labeling household measures

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