If you ask a question about how many cubic meters are in a ton, you should specify what is meant. Maybe it's about natural gas, maybe it's about oil, or maybe it's about the displacement of ships.
Etymology of the name
In every country, yes there is a country, in every city there were their own units of measurement. Length was measured in arshins, feet, yards, sazhens, and long distances - in miles or versts. Volumes were considered pints and mugs, gallons and buckets, barrels and barrels. There were also countless units of weight: ounces, pounds, measures, pounds, and so on. But with the increasing importance of trade, the standards of weights and measures had to be equalized. First, within one country, then standardization took place between individual countries, and the next stage was the general standardization of units of measurement. This happened towards the end of the nineteenth century. And until the end of the eighteenth century, the question "how many cubic meters in a ton" could not arise in principle, because there were no such units of measurement yet. And the names themselves - ton and meter - appeared in France when the ideals of the bourgeois revolution triumphed.
The winners were in a hurry to get rid of the remnants of the monarchy, which included, among other things, names - months, days of the week, units of measurement. The new units of measurement have been given new names. "Tonne" comes from the French word tonne, which meant a slightly modified Latin word tunne - barrel. "Meter" had ancient Greek roots (from "measure" or "meter"). The question "how many cubic meters in a ton" received the first correct answer in France in 1795.
Metric
When introducing a system of new units, the common duodecimal measurement was abandoned, and the decimal was taken as the basis. The French have defined new standards for measuring length, weight and volume. Initially, the standard of length - "meter" - was defined as one forty-millionth of the Parisian meridian. Later measurements showed that the length of the earth's meridian differs by some fractions from the ideal forty thousand kilometers, but the meter has already taken its place as the standard of length. Derivatives of this length were obtained by adding Latin prefixes - micro-, milli-, centi-, deci-, kilo-. The standard of weight was the mass of water in a cube with a rib size of one centimeter in an ideal, as it was believed, condition. Melt water at normal atmospheric pressure. Considering that this unit of weight was very small, new non-standard volumes of weight and mass were invented. So, a cube with an edge of one decimeter of the same water in perfect condition became known as a “liter” (again, the roots of this word are old French).
And when the cube became with a meter edge, we got a new unit of mass - "ton". That is, if you translate tons into cubic meters of water, you get one. But this is only in the case of the "ideal state" of water. Usually any liquid becomes lighter when heated.
International system of units
This metric system, although it originates at the end of the 18th century, was adopted in France by law only in 1837. Gradually, it began to gain popularity in international agreements, and finally took root in 1875, when the Meter Convention was approved by authorized representatives of seventeen world powers. One of these countries was the Russian, but then it was not the Federation, but the Empire.
What was the reason that now in our country measurements are not made in pounds or buckets, and it is safe to say how many cubic meters are in a ton. This convention, after a series of transformations, became the foundation for the formation of the International System of Units in 1960. In this system, there was a place for both the meter and the ton.
Different tons
But still, the question "1 ton - how many cubic meters" is not at all trivial. Because besides the concept from the metric system, there are other definitions. For example, there are such concepts as the American (short) ton, which weighs just over nine hundred and seven kilograms. But the English (long) ton is sixteen-odd kilograms heavier than the metric one. The same unit, only with the name"freight ton", measure the size of the freight. If we are talking about heavy substances, its size is equal to the English ton, and light and bulky goods are measured in cubic meters. That is, the answer to the question "how many cubic meters in a freight ton" will be 1, 12.
Displacement of ships is measured, again, in the same units. But register tons, which are used for this concept, measure not the weight, but the volume of the room that the transported cargo can occupy. Therefore, the correct answer to the question "how many cubic meters in a freight ton" is 2.83 cubic meters.
