Finding the Volume of Containers

Last week we did an experiment to find out which of two containers had a larger volume (took up more space).  We used two containers, and a gallon of water.  Our method was:

1.  Pour water into one of the two containers.
2.  Pour water from the first container into the second container.

We decided that if the second container overflowed, it had less volume than the first container (it couldn't hold all the water the first one did).  If the second container had space left, it had more volume than the first container (it held all the water the first one held, plus had room for more).

 First, we poured water into the first container.

 Then, we poured water from the first container into the second container.

The bowl overflowed!  That means it had less volume (took up less space) than the first container.

We were very surprised by some of our results!  Containers we definitely thought had a bigger volume, ended up taking up less space than the container they were paired with!