Convert Tun (tun) to Petaliter (PL) instantly.
About these units
Tun (tun)
A tun is a historical large cask unit commonly used in the wine and brewing industries, typically defined as 252 imperial gallons, or roughly 954 liters. It represented one of the largest standardized cask sizes in medieval and early modern Europe. Originally used for transporting wine, ale, and oil, the tun played an important role in commerce and maritime trade. Because taxes and tariffs were often levied per tun, its definition became central to economic regulation. The size also reflected the maximum volume that could be reliably transported in wooden casks without structural failure. Though obsolete today, the tun provides valuable insight into historical logistics, taxation, and the evolution of standardized container sizes in European trade networks.
Petaliter (PL)
A petaliter represents 10¹⁵ liters, a massive unit used to quantify the total water content of oceans, polar ice sheets, or planetary atmospheres. Oceanographers may describe the Pacific Ocean's volume or the total ice volume of Antarctica in petaliters; these scales cannot be expressed meaningfully in smaller units without imposing huge, impractical numbers. The PL is also sometimes used in astronomy to approximate ocean-like features on other worlds, such as subsurface oceans on Europa or Enceladus. It represents one of the largest practical volumetric units before entering pure theoretical measurement.