Which term is defined as the amount of space that a sample occupies?

• A. Mass
• B. Density
• C. Temperature
• D. Volume

Answer: (D)

Volume is the amount of three-dimensional space that a sample occupies. It tells you how much room the object or substance fills in a container. For liquids, we commonly use liters or milliliters; for solids, cubic meters or cubic centimeters are typical, and irregular objects can be measured by water displacement to see how much the water level rises. Regular-shaped solids let you calculate volume by multiplying length, width, and height. This concept differs from mass, which measures how much matter there is, from density, which is mass per unit volume, and from temperature, which relates to the average kinetic energy of the particles. Therefore, the term that defines the amount of space a sample occupies is volume.