Square metre | |
---|---|
General information | |
Unit system | SI |
Unit of | area |
Symbol | m2 |
The square metre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures) or square meter (American spelling) is the unit of area in the International System of Units (SI) with symbol m2. [1] It is the area of a square with sides one metre in length.
Adding and subtracting SI prefixes creates multiples and submultiples; however, as the unit is exponentiated, the quantities grow exponentially by the corresponding power of 10. For example, 1 kilometre is 103 (one thousand) times the length of 1 metre, but 1 square kilometre is (103)2 (106, one million) times the area of 1 square metre, and 1 cubic kilometre is (103)3 (109, one billion) cubic metres.
The square metre may be used with all SI prefixes used with the metre.
Multiplication | Name | Symbol | Multiplication | Name | Symbol |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
100 | square metre (centiare) | m2 | 100 | square metre (centiare) | m2 |
102 | square decametre (are) | dam2 | 10−2 | square decimetre | dm2 |
104 | square hectometre (hectare) | hm2 | 10−4 | square centimetre | cm2 |
106 | square kilometre | km2 | 10−6 | square millimetre | mm2 |
1012 | square megametre | Mm2 | 10−12 | square micrometre | μm2 |
1018 | square gigametre | Gm2 | 10−18 | square nanometre | nm2 |
1024 | square terametre | Tm2 | 10−24 | square picometre | pm2 |
1030 | square petametre | Pm2 | 10−30 | square femtometre | fm2 |
1036 | square exametre | Em2 | 10−36 | square attometre | am2 |
1042 | square zettametre | Zm2 | 10−42 | square zeptometre | zm2 |
1048 | square yottametre | Ym2 | 10−48 | square yoctometre | ym2 |
1054 | square ronnametre | Rm2 | 10−54 | square rontometre | rm2 |
1060 | square quettametre | Qm2 | 10−60 | square quectometre | qm2 |
Unicode has several characters used to represent metric area units, but these are for compatibility with East Asian character encodings and are not meant to be used in new documents. [2]
Instead, the Unicode superscript U+00B2²SUPERSCRIPT TWO can be used, as in m².
One square metre is equal to:
A centimetre or centimeter, with SI symbol cm, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one hundredth of a metre, centi being the SI prefix for a factor of 1/100. Equivalently, there are 100 centimetres in 1 metre. The centimetre was the base unit of length in the now deprecated centimetre–gram–second (CGS) system of units.
The hertz is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units (SI), often described as being equivalent to one event per second. The hertz is an SI derived unit whose formal expression in terms of SI base units is s−1, meaning that one hertz is one per second or the reciprocal of one second. It is used only in the case of periodic events. It is named after Heinrich Rudolf Hertz (1857–1894), the first person to provide conclusive proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. For high frequencies, the unit is commonly expressed in multiples: kilohertz (kHz), megahertz (MHz), gigahertz (GHz), terahertz (THz).
The kilogram is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), having the unit symbol kg. 'Kilogram' means 'one thousand grams' and is colloquially abbreviated to kilo.
Kilo is a decimal unit prefix in the metric system denoting multiplication by one thousand (103). It is used in the International System of Units, where it has the symbol k, in lowercase.
The litre or liter is a metric unit of volume. It is equal to 1 cubic decimetre (dm3), 1000 cubic centimetres (cm3) or 0.001 cubic metres (m3). A cubic decimetre occupies a volume of 10 cm × 10 cm × 10 cm and is thus equal to one-thousandth of a cubic metre.
The micrometre or micrometer, also commonly known by the non-SI term micron, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) equalling 1×10−6 metre ; that is, one millionth of a metre.
The nanometre (international spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures; SI symbol: nm), or nanometer (American spelling), is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one billionth (short scale) of a meter (0.000000001 m) and to 1000 picometres. One nanometre can be expressed in scientific notation as 1 × 10-9 m and as 1/1000000000 m.
The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official status in nearly every country in the world, employed in science, technology, industry, and everyday commerce. The SI system is coordinated by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures which is abbreviated BIPM from French: Bureau international des poids et mesures.
A metric prefix is a unit prefix that precedes a basic unit of measure to indicate a multiple or submultiple of the unit. All metric prefixes used today are decadic. Each prefix has a unique symbol that is prepended to any unit symbol. The prefix kilo-, for example, may be added to gram to indicate multiplication by one thousand: one kilogram is equal to one thousand grams. The prefix milli-, likewise, may be added to metre to indicate division by one thousand; one millimetre is equal to one thousandth of a metre.
The metric system is a decimal-based system of measurement. The current international standard for the metric system is the International System of Units, in which all units can be expressed in terms of seven base units: the metre (m), kilogram (kg), second (s), ampere (A), kelvin (K), mole (mol), and candela (cd). These can be made into larger or smaller units with the use of metric prefixes.
The kilometre, spelt kilometer in American and Philippine English, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand metres. It is the preferred measurement unit to express distances between geographical places on land in most of the world; notable exceptions are the United States and the United Kingdom where the statute mile is used.
The pascal is the unit of pressure in the International System of Units (SI). It is also used to quantify internal pressure, stress, Young's modulus, and ultimate tensile strength. The unit, named after Blaise Pascal, is an SI coherent derived unit defined as one newton per square metre (N/m2). It is also equivalent to 10 barye in the CGS system. Common multiple units of the pascal are the hectopascal, which is equal to one millibar, and the kilopascal, which is equal to one centibar.
The metre per second is the unit of both speed and velocity in the International System of Units (SI), equal to the speed of a body covering a distance of one metre in a time of one second. According to the definition of metre, 1 m/s is exactly of the speed of light.
The millimetre or millimeter is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousandth of a metre, which is the SI base unit of length. Therefore, there are one thousand millimetres in a metre. There are ten millimetres in a centimetre.
Micro is a unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of 10−6. It comes from the Greek word μικρός, meaning "small".
A decametre, symbol dam, is a unit of length in the International System of Units (SI) equal to ten metres.
The ohm is the unit of electrical resistance in the International System of Units (SI). It is named after German physicist Georg Ohm. Various empirically derived standard units for electrical resistance were developed in connection with early telegraphy practice, and the British Association for the Advancement of Science proposed a unit derived from existing units of mass, length and time, and of a convenient scale for practical work as early as 1861.
The hectare is a non-SI metric unit of area equal to a square with 100-metre sides (1 hm2), that is, 10,000 square metres, and is primarily used in the measurement of land. There are 100 hectares in one square kilometre. An acre is about 0.405 hectares and one hectare contains about 2.47 acres.
The angstrom is a unit of length equal to 10−10 m; that is, one ten-billionth of a metre, a hundred-millionth of a centimetre, 0.1 nanometre, or 100 picometres. The unit is named after the Swedish physicist Anders Jonas Ångström (1814–1874). It was originally spelled with Swedish letters, as Ångström and later as ångström. The latter spelling is still listed in some dictionaries, but is now rare in English texts. Some popular US dictionaries list only the spelling angstrom.
The cubic metre or cubic meter 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. Another alternative name, no longer widely used, was the kilolitre.