If you wonder what cubic feet are, how they are calculated and converted into other units (inches, cm, yards), feel free to check out this Cubic Feet Calculator. Additionally, you will learn how to measure the cubic feet of soil and a cylinder and find out what’s the everyday life usage of cubic feet.
If you want to explore deeper into “volume” topic in math and learn how to calculate the volume of different shapes, head over to our comprehensive Volume Conversion and Volume Calculator. Throughout this article, we will tackle the theme of cubic footage and how to find it, so instead if you want to know more about square footage, check out out Square Footage Calculator and torr to atm.
What is a Cubic Foot?
A cubic foot (cu ft) is an imperial and US customary unit of volume, mainly used in the US and the UK. It is used to measure the space or capacity of an item or object considering its length, width, and height.
Sometimes, you may find it defined as a volume of a box with sides of one foot in length. For instance, when you measure cubic feet, you can determine the unit rate of flow of rivers and gases. However, for solids, cubic foot helps us measure their volumes using their dimensions in 3D.
How do I calculate cubic feet? Let’s find it out in the next section.
How to Calculate Cubic Feet – Formula
Generally, when we say, “what is cubic feet of an object” in other words, we say that we want to determine the object’s volume expressed in cubic foot (cu ft). Cubic feet volume is equivalent to the total space of 1 ft x 1 ft x 1 ft container.
But, how to find cubic feet of a particular object or item?
The cubic feet formula for calculating the volume of an object in cubic feet for rectangular shapes is the following:
\text{Volume (cu ft) = length} \times \text{width} \times \text{height}where:
volume – the total volume of an object in cu ft
length – an object’s length
width- an object’s width
height – the height of an object
Note: The formula above is only used if you wonder how to calculate cubic feet of a box – rectangular shape, and if all dimensions are in ft. If any of the mentioned conditions are not met, you can’t use the mentioned formula. We will discuss and learn more about it later.
How to Calculate Cubic Feet from Inches?
We tackled this issue a bit in the previous section. We pointed out that if the dimensions are in different units (centimeters, inches, yards, and more) or your object is not rectangular – you need to use a different approach for calculating cubic feet.
This section will explain and teach you how to calculate cubic feet from inches if the dimensions are expressed in inches, not in ft.
In order to figure out how to get cubic feet (volume), there are two possible approaches or methods:
- Convert the units before calculating the volume
- Convert the units after you find the volume
First method:
If you choose first to convert all the non-feet dimensions to feet and then find the volume, follow the steps below:
For:
- in to ft, divide each parameter (length, width, and height) by 12
- yd to ft, multiply each parameter by 3
- cm to ft, divide each parameter by 30.48
- m to ft, multiply each parameter by ~3.281
Second method:
In the second method, you first calculate and find the volume and then do the unit conversion. So, you calculate everything first and do the conversion part only once in this method. Therefore, pick the method that you feel will fit you best.
For:
- inches, divide the volume by 1728
- yards, multiply the volume by 27
- centimeters, divide the volume by ~28316.847
- meters, multiply the volume value by ~35.315
How Does Calculating Cubic Feet of Soil Work?
Calculating cubic feet of dirt or soil works the same way if the area is rectangular. So, if it is, in this case, you can simply find it with the standard formula:
\text{Area of soil = length} \times \text{width}For an easier and quicker method – don’t hesitate to try our calculator.
However, if the soil has a more irregular and non-rectangular shape, you need to apply a different formula depending on what shape it is.
If you find it too complicated or unclear how to find the area of a particular shape, we highly recommend you to check out our in-depth Area Calculator that covers all of them. If you know the shape of the soil, we have individual calculators for each. For example, for an ellipsoid soil area, use our Ellipse Area Calculator; for a trapezoidal shape, check out our Area of a Trapezoid Calculator.
Once you know the soil area, you need to multiply it by the thickness you need.
\text{Volume = Area of the soil} \times \text{Thickness}After you find the volume, only what’s left is to convert the given volume into a unit of volume that you need. For instance, if the result is given in cubic meters, multiply it by 35.315 to convert it into cubic feet.
How to Calculate Cubic Feet of a Cylinder
How do you calculate the cubic feet of a cylinder since we neither showed its formula nor discussed it in the previous sections?
To determine the cubic feet of a cylinder, we need to know its radius length and height. Therefore, the formula for calculating cubic footage of a cylinder is:
\text{Volume = π ×} r^{2} \text{× h}
The volume of a cylinder returned from the formula is expressed in cubic feet.
Conversion with Other Volume Units
Here is the conversion table showing you how to convert other volume units into cubic feet.
| Volume Unit | Volume in cu ft |
| cubic inches | cu in ÷ 1,728 |
| cubic yards | cu yds × 27 |
| cubic centimeters | cu cm ÷ 28,316.8 |
| cubic meters | cu m × 35.3 |
Cubic Feet Calculator – How to Use?
You learned how to check how many cubic feet are in a certain area, but we did it manually without using any tool. But, we highly recommend you to use a tool that will automate calculating cubic feet.
This section will teach you how to utilize our Cubic Feet Calculator to calculate cubic footage for an object.
How to determine cubic feet using our calculator? – Steps:
- Specify the dimensions (width, length, and height) of an area or object
- The calculator will find the cubic footage and return it in cu ft
How to Calculate Cubic Feet – Example
Let’s use our Cubic Feet Calculator and show how to use it in a real example below.
Scenario: How would you calculate the cubic footage of storage with the dimensions using our calculator:
- length = 100 inches
- width = 35 inches
- height = 60 inches
Steps:
- Enter the required dimensions in the calculator and choose “in” (inches) as a measurement unit
- The calculator calculates it and returns the volume of the storage in cu ft:
Volume = 121.53 cu ft
Everyday Life Usage
We can find cubic feet applied and used in everyday life scenarios. Let’s look at some common examples:
- for estimating the volume of your fridge, dishwasher, or oven
- you want to determine how much space your bag needs
- to check how much gravel does your driveway need
- to figure out how much water would you need for an aquarium or pool
- for air-compressor systems
More or less, the calculation for all these everyday-life usages of cubic feet can be eased and simplified with the help of our Cubic Feet Calculator.
FAQ
What is the cubic feet of a 5-gallon bucket?
We can convert gallons to cubic feet or other volume units. For example, according to the conversion rate, one US gallon of liquid equals 0.134 cu ft. Therefore, using this ratio, we can determine that a 5-gallon bucket (5 gallons) is equivalent to 0.670 cu ft.
How to calculate cubic feet from yards?
If you are given the volume in a unit other than cubic feet, you can convert it by following a certain rule. For example, for converting from cubic yards to cubic feet, you need to multiply the volume value by 27.
How to find cubic footage of a cylinder?
You can easily find the cubic footage of a cylinder using the formula: Volume = \pi \times r^2 \times h .
How many cubic feet are in a yard?
In one yard, there are 27 cubic feet.
How to convert 5 cubic feet to square feet?
In order to convert cubic feet to square feet, you need to use the conversion rate. Therefore, according to the conversion rate, 5 cubic feet equals 2.924 square feet.
How big is 2 cubic feet?
For example, 2 cubic feet is equivalent to:
– Mulch covering 24 sq ft with a thickness of 1 inch or 12 square ft of mulch with a thickness of 2 inches.
– A box with dimensions of 18″ x 15″ x 12.5″ dimensions
– 56.6337 liters of some liquid
