by Guest » Thu Apr 28, 2005 4:59 am
I go to NIST SP330 (the US version of the SI brochure) and read the declaration of the 12th CGPM, 1964, in Resolution 6 that the liter is a special name for the cubic decimeter. Since ther are 10 cm in a dm, when cubed there are 1000 cm^3 in 1 dm^3 or 1 L. ! mL = 1/1000 L = 1 cm^3.
(Note that from 1901 to 1964,it was the volume occupied by 1 kg of water at maximum density (about 4 degrees C), as declared in 3rd CGPM, 1901. This is about 1.000028 dm^3. The confusion led to a review from 1960 to 1964.
Both the liter and cubic centimer are units of volume. It doesn't matter what substance.