Cubic Metre

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.

Cubic metre
One cubic metre of concrete (representing the world annual production per inhabitant).
General information
Unit system	SI
Unit of	volume
Symbol	m3

Look up cubic metre in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.

 

1 cubic metre	= 1000 litres (exactly)
	≈ 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 1000 kg, 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 m^3, M3, m**3, cum, m3, CBM, cbm 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 U+33A5 ㎥ SQUARE M CUBED.

Multiples

Cubic decametre
the volume of a cube of side length one decametre (10 m)
equal to a megalitre
1 dam³ = 1000 m³ = 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 = 1000000 m³ = 1 GL

Cubic kilometre
the volume of a cube of side length one kilometre (1000 m)
equal to a teralitre
1 km³ = 1000000000 m³ = 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
the volume of a cube of side length one centimetre (0.01 m)
equal to a millilitre
1 cm³ = 0.000001 m³ = 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 = 0.000000001 m³ = 10⁻⁹ m³ = 1 μL

• Standard cubic foot