Cubic metre
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The cubic metre (symbol m³) is the SI derived unit of volume. It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. In the United States it is spelt "cubic meter". An alternate name, which allowed a different usage with SI prefixes, was the stère.
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[edit] Conversions
1 cubic metre is equivalent to:
- 1,000 litres (exactly); 1 litre = 0.001 m³ (exactly)
- ~35.3 cubic feet (approximately); 1 cubic foot = 0.028 316 846 592 m³(exactly)
- ~1.31 cubic yards (approximately); 1 cubic yard = 0.764 554 857 984 m³ (exactly)
- ~6.29 oil barrels (approximately); 1 barrel = 0.158 987 294 928 m³ (exactly)
A cubic metre of pure water at the temperature of maximum density (3.98 °C) and standard atmospheric pressure (101.325 kPa) has a mass of 1000 kg, or one tonne. At 0 °C, the freezing point of water, it is slightly less, 999.972 kg.
It is sometimes abbreviated m3, m^3 or m**3 when superscript characters or markup are not available/accessible (i.e. in some typewritten documents and postings in Usenet newsgroups).
Abbreviated CBM in the freight business and MTQ (or numeric code 49) in international trade.
[edit] Multiples and submultiples
See 1 E-3 m³ for a comparison with other volumes.
[edit] Multiples
- A cubic dekametre (dam³) is 1 000 cubic metres, and is equal to the volume of a cube of side length 1 dekametre (10 metres).
- A cubic hectometre (hm³) is the volume equal to that of a cube of side length 1 hectometre (100 metres). 1 hm³ is 1 000 X 10 6 liters (see Giga liter). 1 000 cubic dekametres is 1 cubic hectometre (hm³) and 1 000 cubic hectometres is 1 cubic kilometre (km³).
- A cubic kilometre (km³) is the volume equal to that of a cube of side length 1 kilometre.
[edit] Submultiples
- A cubic decimetre (dm³) is the volume of a cube of side length 1 decimetre (0.1 metre). 1 cubic decimetre is now equal to 1 litre.
- From 1901 to 1964 the litre was defined as the volume of 1 kilogram of pure water at 4 degrees Celsius and 760 millimetres of mercury pressure. During this time, a litre was about 1.000028 dm3. In 1964 the original definition was reverted to.
- A cubic centimetre (cm³) is equal to the volume of a cube with side length of 1 centimetre. It was the base unit of volume of the CGS system of units, and is a legitimate SI unit. It is equal to a millilitre (ml).
- The colloquial abbreviations cc and ccm are not SI but are common in some contexts. It is a verbal shorthand for "cubic centimetre". For example 'cc' is commonly used for denoting displacement of car and motorbike engines "the Mini Cooper had a 1275 cc engine". In medicine 'cc' is also common, for example "100 cc of blood loss".
- A cubic millimetre (mm³) is the volume equal to that of a cube with edges of 1 millimetre.
| Orders of magnitude (volume) SI unit: cubic metre |
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| 1 E-60 m³ | 1 E-18 m³ | 1 E-12 m³ | 1 ml | 1 m³ | 1 E6 m³ | 1 E12 m³ | 1 E18 m³ | 1 E24 m³ | 1 E30 m³ |
| 1 E-50 m³ | 1 E-17 m³ | 1 E-11 m³ | 10 ml | 10 m³ | 1 E7 m³ | 1 E13 m³ | 1 E19 m³ | 1 E25 m³ | 1 E40 m³ |
| 1 E-40 m³ | 1 E-16 m³ | 1 E-10 m³ | 100 ml | 100 m³ | 1 E8 m³ | 1 E14 m³ | 1 E20 m³ | 1 E26 m³ | 1 E50 m³ |
| 1 E-30 m³ | 1 E-15 m³ | 1 E-9 m³ | 1 l | 1000 m³ | 1 E9 m³ | 1 E15 m³ | 1 E21 m³ | 1 E27 m³ | 1 E60 m³ |
| 1 E-20 m³ | 1 E-14 m³ | 1 E-8 m³ | 10 l | 10000 m³ | 1 E10 m³ | 1 E16 m³ | 1 E22 m³ | 1 E28 m³ | 1 E70 m³ |
| 1 E-19 m³ | 1 E-13 m³ | 1 E-7 m³ | 100 l | 100,000 m³ | 1 E11 m³ | 1 E17 m³ | 1 E23 m³ | 1 E29 m³ | 1 E80 m³ |
