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Measure volume · Biology · Chemistry · Physics

Measuring cylinder

Measuring cylinder, with labels: scale in cm³, meniscus, base.

What it is for

A measuring cylinder measures the volume of a liquid. Pour the liquid in, stand the cylinder on a level bench and read the scale at the bottom of the curved surface, the meniscus.

Capacity
10, 25, 50, 100 or 250 cm³; this one 100 cm³
Smallest division
1 cm³ on a 100 cm³ cylinder
Record to
the nearest 1 cm³, 62 cm³, or, estimating between marks, half a division, 62.5 cm³; one precision in a table

Why choose it

For measuring out a liquid when about 1 cm³ is close enough, such as 50 cm³ of acid for a rate experiment, and for the volume of a stone from the rise in water level. A burette or a volumetric pipette measures to a small fraction of 1 cm³, so a titration uses those instead.

How to read it

606570eye too high:parallax errorbottom of themeniscus: 62 cm³
  1. Stand the cylinder on a flat bench and let the liquid settle.
  2. Work out what one small division is worth: here 1 cm³.
  3. Bend down until your eye is level with the bottom of the meniscus.
  4. Read the mark at the bottom of the meniscus and write the unit: 62 cm³.

Exam-style question

A student pours water into a 100 cm³ measuring cylinder and reads 50 cm³. She lowers a stone of mass 30.0 g on a thread into the water, and the level rises to 62 cm³.

  1. Calculate the volume of the stone.
  2. Calculate the density of the stone.
  3. Why is the stone lowered on a thread instead of dropped in?
Show what a good answer says
  1. 62 − 50 = 12 cm³: the water rises by the volume of the stone.
  2. Density = mass ÷ volume = 30.0 ÷ 12 = 2.5 g/cm³.
  3. Dropping it can splash water out or crack the glass; lost water makes the final reading, and so the volume, too small.

Teaching points for checking your own answer, not official Cambridge marks.

Common errors

  • Reading the top of the meniscus, or where the water climbs the glass at the edge, instead of the bottom of the meniscus.
  • Reading from above or below the liquid surface (parallax error), not with your eye level with it.
  • Getting a division wrong: on a 250 cm³ cylinder each small division is often 2 cm³, not 1 cm³.
  • Measuring a small volume in a large cylinder: 8 cm³ is read far more precisely in a 10 cm³ cylinder than in a 100 cm³ one.

Where you use it here

From the Practical Test apparatus lists of the Cambridge IGCSE Biology 0610, Chemistry 0620 and Physics 0625 syllabuses for 2026–2028, and the apparatus the experiments on this site use.

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