A unit of volume is a

unit of measurement A unit of measurement, or unit of measure, is a definite magnitude (mathematics), magnitude of a quantity, defined and adopted by convention or by law, that is used as a standard for measurement of the same kind of quantity. Any other qua ...

for measuring

volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...

or capacity, the extent of an object or space in three

dimensions In physics and mathematics, the dimension of a mathematical space (or object) is informally defined as the minimum number of coordinates needed to specify any point within it. Thus, a line has a dimension of one (1D) because only one coordi ...

. Units of capacity may be used to specify the volume of fluids or bulk goods, for example water, rice, sugar, grain or flour.

Units

According to the

SI system The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of units of measurement, system of measurement. It is the only system ...

, the base unit for measuring length is the

metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...

. The SI unit of volume is thus the

cubic metre 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 m ...

, which is a derived unit, where:''SI Units - Volume''
at nist.gov. Retrieved 29 June 2022. 1 m³ = 1 m • 1 m • 1 m.

Comparison

Forestry and timber industry

British Commonwealth

Hoppus The hoppus cubic foot (or ‘hoppus cube’ or ‘h cu ft’) was the standard volume measurement used for timber in the British Empire and countries in the British sphere of influence before the introduction of metric units. It is still used in ...

, cubic foot measure used in the British Empire and, nowadays, some Commonwealth countries for timber.

Germany

* Festmeter (fm), a unit of volume for logs ** Erntefestmeter (Efm), a unit of volume for trees or forests which assumes a 10% loss due to bark and 10% during the felling process. ** Vorratsfestmeter (Vfm), a unit of volume for trees or forests based on measurements including the bark. * Raummeter (rm), or

stere The stere or stère (st) is a unit of volume in the original metric system equal to one cubic metre. The stere is typically used for measuring large quantities of firewood or other cut wood, while the cubic meter is used for uncut wood. The ...

(stacked

firewood Firewood is any wooden material that is gathered and used for fuel. Generally, firewood is not heavily processed, and is in some sort of firelog, recognizable log or branch form, compared to other forms of wood fuel like pellet fuel, pellets. ...

) = 0.7 m³ (stacked woodpile with air spaces) ** Schüttmeter, or Schüttraummeter (piled wood with air spaces)

USA and Canada

Board foot The board foot or board-foot is a unit of measurement for the volume of lumber in the United States and Canada. It equals the volume of a board that is in length, one foot in width, and in thickness, or exactly liters. Board foot can be abbrev ...

, unit of lumber * Cord, a unit of dry volume used to measure firewood and

pulpwood Pulpwood can be defined as timber that is ground and processed into a fibrous pulp. It is a versatile natural resource commonly used for Papermaking, paper-making but also made into low-grade wood and used for chips, energy, pellets, and engineered ...

Cubic yard A cubic yard (symbol yd3)IEEE Std 260.1-2004 is an Imperial unit, imperial / U.S. customary unit, U.S. customary (non-SI non-Metric system, metric) unit of volume used in Canada and the United States. It is defined as the volume of a cube with sid ...

, equal to

References

External links

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