Cubic metre explained

Cubic metre
Standard:SI
Quantity:volume
Symbol:m3

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.[1] It is the volume of a cube with edges one metre in length. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with metric prefixes, 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

See main article: Unit conversion.

1 cubic metre = litres (exactly)[2] [3]
≈ 35.3 cubic feet
≈ 1.31 cubic yards
≈ 6.29 oil barrels
≈ 220 imperial gallons
≈ 264 US fluid gallons

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, or one tonne. At 0 °C, the freezing point of water, a cubic metre of water has slightly less mass, 999.972 kilograms.

A cubic metre is sometimes abbreviated to , , , , , , when superscript characters or markup 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 .[4]

Multiples and submultiples

See main article: SI prefix.

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-feet; 0.239913 cubic miles)

    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[5]
  • 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

    Notes and References

    1. [International Bureau of Weights and Measures|Bureau International de Poids et Mesures]
    2. From 1901 to 1964 the litre was defined as the volume of one kilogram of pure water at 4°C and 760 millimetres of mercury pressure. During this time, a litre was about . In 1964 the original definition was reverted to.
    3. Web site: BIPM - Table 6 . 2010-03-05 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20091001100650/http://www.bipm.org/en/si/si_brochure/chapter4/table6.html . 2009-10-01 .
    4. Web site: The Unicode Standard 12.0 – CJK Compatibility ❰ Range: 3300—33FF ❱ . May 24, 2019 . Unicode Consortium . Unicode Consortium . 2019 . Unicode.org.
    5. 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.

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