The cubic metre (in Commonwealth English and international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or cubic meter (in American English) is the unit of volume in the International System of Units (SI).[ Its symbol is m3.][Bureau International de Poids et Mesures. " Derived units expressed in terms of base units ". 2014. Accessed 7 August 2014.] It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with , was the stère, still sometimes used for dry measure (for instance, in reference to wood). Another alternative name, no longer widely used, was the kilolitre.
Conversions
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| 1 cubic metre | = (exactly)[From 1901 to 1964 the litre was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at 4°Celsius and 760 torr pressure: during this time, a litre was about . In 1964 the original definition was reverted to.] |
| ≈ 35.3146667 cubic foot |
| ≈ 1.3079506 |
| ≈ 6.2898108 oil barrels |
| ≈ 219.96925 imperial unit |
| ≈ 264.17205 US fluid gallons |
A cubic metre of pure water at the temperature of maximum density (3.983 °C) and standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa) has a mass of , or one tonne. At 0 °C, the freezing point of water, a cubic metre of water has slightly less mass, 999.85 kilograms.
A cubic metre is sometimes abbreviated to ', ', ', ', ', ', when superscript Glyph or Markup language cannot be used (e.g. in some typewritten documents and postings in Usenet newsgroups). The "cubic metre" symbol is encoded by Unicode at code point .
Multiples and submultiples
Multiples
- Cubic decametre
- the volume of a cube of side length one decametre (10 m)
- equal to a megalitre
- 1 dam3 = = 1 ML
- Cubic hectometre
- the volume of a cube of side length one hectometre (100 m)
- equal to a gigalitre
- in civil engineering abbreviated MCM for million cubic metres
- 1 hm3 = = 1 GL
- Cubic kilometre
- the volume of a cube of side length one kilometre ()
- equal to a teralitre
- 1 km3 = = 1 TL (810713.19 acre-foot; 0.239913 )
Submultiples
- Cubic decimetre
- the volume of a cube of side length one decimetre (0.1 m)
- equal to a litre
- 1 dm3 = 0.001 m3 = 1 L
- (also known as DCM (=Deci Cubic Meter) in Rubber compound processing)
- Cubic centimetre
[The cubic centimetre is the base unit of volume of the CGS system of units. The colloquial abbreviations "cc" and "ccm" are not SI but are common in some contexts such as cooking, engine displacement and medicine.]
- the volume of a cube of side length one centimetre (0.01 m)
- equal to a millilitre
- 1 cm3 = = 10−6 m3 = 1 mL
- Cubic millimetre
- the volume of a cube of side length one millimetre (0.001 m)
- equal to a microlitre
- 1 mm3 = = 10−9 m3 = 1 μL
See also
