Capacity and weight · Usually met around P3
Comparing capacity
Measure with the same cup: more cups, more capacity.
How to do it
Method
Measure with the same cup: more cups, more capacity
A 5 cups, B 3 cups: A holds 2 more
Another way
Pour and compare
Pour A into B with some left over: A is bigger
In full
Capacity is how much a container can hold. There are three ways to compare it. Containers of the same shape: the bigger one holds more. Or fill one with water and pour it into the other, empty one: if some is left over, the first holds more; if it fills exactly, they hold the same. Or use one cup as a unit and see how many cups each container fills: more cups means more capacity, and you can say how many more. The cups must all be the same size for this to work.
Worked examples
Have a go first, then open each one for the answer and the working.
Example 1
Jug A, filled with water, exactly fills the cups shown. How many cups does jug A hold?
Show the answer and working
Answer: 8 cups
Count the cups: 8.
Example 2
Jugs A and B are filled and poured into cups that are all the same, as shown. How many more cups does A hold than B?
Show the answer and working
Answer: 3 cups
7 − 4 = 3 cups.
Example 3
Jug A fills 9 cups and jug B fills 10 cups of the same size, so A holds more.
True or false?
Show the answer and working
Answer: False
With the same cups, more cups means more capacity: compare 9 and 10.
Practise it in the game →Capacity and weight · Free to start, unlimited questions, no download