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. 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. The acronym CBM is in common use to describe a cubic metre.

Conversions

Some SI units of volume to scale and approximate corresponding mass of water

1 cubic metre = 1000 litres (exactly) ≈ 35.3146667 cubic feet ≈ 1.3079506 cubic yards ≈ 6.2898108 oil barrels ≈ 219.96925 imperial gallons ≈ 264.17205 US fluid gallons

A cubic metre of pure water at the temperature of maximum density (3.983°C) and standard atmospheric pressure (101.325kPa) has a mass of 1000kg, or one tonne, which makes its maximum density at 101.325 kPa 1 Mg/m3. At 0°C, the freezing point of water, a cubic metre of water has slightly less mass, 999.85 kilograms.

The "cubic metre" symbol is encoded by Unicode at code point U+33A5㎥SQUARE M CUBED.

Multiples and submultiples

Multiples

Cubic decametre

the volume of a cube of side length one decametre (10m)

equal to a megalitre

1dam3 = 1000m3 = 1ML

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

1hm3 = 1000000m3 = 1GL

Cubic kilometre

the volume of a cube of side length one kilometre (1000m)

equal to a teralitre

1km3 = 1000000000m3 = 1TL (810713.19 acre-feet; 0.239913 cubic miles)

Submultiples

Cubic decimetre

the volume of a cube of side length one decimetre (0.1m)

equal to a litre

1dm3 = 0.001m3 = 1L

(also known as DCM (=Deci Cubic Meter) in Rubber compound processing)

Cubic centimetre

the volume of a cube of side length one centimetre (0.01m)

equal to a millilitre

1cm3 = 0.000001m3 = 10−6m3 = 1mL

Cubic millimetre

the volume of a cube of side length one millimetre (0.001m)

equal to a microlitre

1mm3 = 0.000000001m3 = 10−9m3 = 1μL

See also