how do you determine the water volume of a flower pot

[benji-star]

just a quick question i was entertaining the idea of getting a very large planter to turn into a pond how do you determine the water volume of this sort of thing
tia

 

[RogerMcAllen]

Get an empty gallon jug, fill it up, and pour it out into the pot. Repeat until the pot is full.

*edit, I was thinking about it and it is conceivable that you have a 50 gal or so pot. Perhaps you should should try to get some sort of larger container that holds maybe 3-5 gallons to use as your reference.

Another idea is to take your hose and see how long it takes to fill a gallon jug. Try it a few times and get an average. Then fill the pot, divide the total time by the amount of time it took to fill one jug.

 

[Alabastor]

Just what I was about to suggest

 

[benji-star]

those are good i deas but i am trying to figure out how big a 50-100 pot would be prior to buying it so the old try it and see method wont work
tank you though

 

[RogerMcAllen]

A half-barrel is about 25 gallons I believe.

 

[czcz]

http://grapevine.abe.msstate.edu/~fto/tools/vol/cone.html

 

[BASSNMAN]

. Multiply the diameter by .7854, times the depth. Divide by 231. This should give you gallons.

 

[jsoong]

I am not sure if that is right Bassman ..... but if I am wrong , apologies in advance.

Volume of a cylinder is pi x radius square x height

Since most flower pot is tapered, I would do an estimate by averaging the top & bottom radius. < note radius = 1/2 diameter >

So volume = 3.14 x [ (top diameter + bottom diameter)/4 ]Square x height

assuming you measure in inches, resulting volume is in cubic inches, divide by 231 to give US gallons.

 

[TomK2]

those are good i deas but i am trying to figure out how big a 50-100 pot would be prior to buying it so the old try it and see method wont work
tank you though

you know those barrels that you see at jiffy lube? Or in urban areas used as trash cans/fire pits? They are 50 gal drums. You have seen them, they are very common. Look at your trash cans, they are sold and labeled by thier volume. estimate how many of your pot fit in the trash container of known volume, or how may trash containers fit in you pot! Otherwise, the volume of a cylinder = Pi x radius squared x hieght. measure this in centimeters. One gallon is 3,840 cubic centimeters, Pi is aprox 3.14 HTH!

no, I am NOT a math teacher!

 

[XXFirefighter]

volume of a cylinder equals the (area of the base)*height = π r2 h

Of if you know the dimentions you can go here...


http://grapevine.abe.msstate.edu/~fto/tools/vol/cylinder.html

 

[BASSNMAN]

The earlier formula I gave should have been .7854 x dia. sq times height, divided by 231 equals gallons. If the pot is tapered, measure the largest and smallest diameter and average . (.7854 X D sq. gives the same result as Pi r sq.)

 

[amosf]

You americans have really got to start using metric

 

[benji-star]

sweet thank you very much