- published: 06 Apr 2011
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The cubic metre (US spelling: cubic meter, symbol: m3) is the SI derived unit of volume. 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. Another alternative name, not widely used any more, is the kilolitre.
1 cubic metre is equivalent to:
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 1,000 kg, or one tonne. At 0 °C, the freezing point of water, a cubic metre of water has slightly less mass, 999.972 kilograms.
It is sometimes abbreviated to cu m, m3, M3, m^3, m**3, CBM, cbm when superscript characters or markup cannot be used (e.g. in some typewritten documents and postings in Usenet newsgroups).
Abbreviated CBM and cbm in the freight business and MTQ (or numeric code 49) in international trade.
See 1 E-3 m³ for a comparison with other volumes.