What is any item that is 8oz?

Answer 1

Ounces are a measure of mass (usually) when dealing with solid substances, and of volume when dealing with liquid substances. We use the ounce as the base unit for quantifying gold, for example. And, as many workers in the food and beverage industry know, the ounce is still the standard base of measure used when measuring the volume of any alcoholic beverage.

Mass or Weight:

Anything that is 8ozs is 1/2 of a lb (pound) in the US or British (Avoirdupois) systems or approx 227g in the Metric system.

Volume or Capacity:

Anything that is 8ozs is half of a pint in the US system, or just under 1/4 of a liter in the Metric system. The British (Imperial) liquid and dry measure for volume, however, is slightly smaller, so the 8oz from the US is measured as 8.3xx oz in the Imperial system. To make things even more confusing, the US does not use the ounce unit when measuring the volume of dry substances.

For more information (or more confusion) ;-), and to peruse my source for yourself, refer to the following site > http://www.convert-me.com/. I consider it a must-have resource and tool, even though I grew up with the Imperial system of measurement.

I was young enough to quickly, and thankfully, learn the "new" Metric system with no difficulty. But when it was first introduced in North America, there were a lot of grumbles and complaints. It costs a lot of money to convert machines and software (punch cards and vacuum tubes) from one standard to another, unless they're purely mechanical in design and function, not to mention the hours of training for people. To think of all the hours I spent in early grade school just memorizing my measurement tables!!