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Class: Volume

The Volume class is a subclass of Variable designed to represent a quantity of volume. It handles automatic unit conversion by storing all internal values in the base SI unit, cubic meters (m3).

Supported Units

The following units are supported for initialization and conversion. The class handles the necessary conversions to and from the base unit.

Unit str Conversion Factor to Cubic Meters (m3)
cubic meter m3 1
liter L 0.001
milliliter mL 10−6
cubic centimeter cm3 10−6
cubic foot ft3 0.0283168
cubic inch in3 1.63871times10−5
US gallon gal 0.00378541
oil barrel bbl 0.158987

Class Reference

class Volume(value, units='m3')

A class for handling volume measurements with automatic unit conversion.

Parameters:

  • value : float or int
    The numeric value of the volume. Must be a non-negative number.
  • units : str, default='m3'
    The unit of the provided value. Must be one of the supported units.

Raises:

  • ValueError : If value is negative.
  • TypeError : If units is not a valid unit.

Examples: 

# Create a Volume object for 100 liters  
>>> v1 = Volume(100, "L")

# Create a Volume object for 1 cubic meter  
>>> v2 = Volume(1, "m3")

Properties

Property Type Description
.value float The numeric value of the volume, always in cubic meters (m3). This is the internal representation used for all calculations.
.original_value float The numeric value as provided during initialization.
.original_unit str The unit as provided during initialization.

Methods

to(target_unit)

Returns a new Volume object converted to the target_unit. The original object remains unchanged.

Parameters:

  • target_unit : str
    The unit to convert to. Must be one of the supported units.

Returns:

  • Volume
    A new Volume object with the converted value and target unit.

Raises:

  • TypeError : If target_unit is not a valid unit.

Examples: 

# Initialize a volume of 5 gallons  
>>> v_gal = Volume(5, "gal")

# Convert to liters  
>>> v_L = v_gal.to("L")

>>> print(v_L)  
18.92705 L

String Representation

  • __str__(self)
    Returns a human-readable string representation of the volume, rounded to six decimal places, using its original value and unit.
  • __repr__(self)
    Returns a string representation suitable for developers and debugging, showing the original value and unit.