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 spelled cubic meter. An alternative name, which allowed a different usage with SI prefixes, was the stère. Another alternative name, not widely used any more, is the kilolitre, spelled kiloliter in the United States.

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 (1 ft³)= 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 to cu m, 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.

Multiples and submultiples

See 1 E-3 m³ for a comparison with other volumes.

Multiples

A cubic decametre (dam³) is 1 000 cubic metres, and is equal to the volume of a cube of side length 1 decametre (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 litre). 1 000 cubic decametres 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.

Submultiples

A cubic decimetre (dm³) is the volume of a cube of side length 1 decimetre (0.1 metre). 1 cubic decimetre is 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. It is equal to a microlitre (µl).

Cubic metre

Conversions

Multiples and submultiples

Multiples

Submultiples

See also