section_path: Measurement/Units
section_name: Units
paragraph_text: Units
  
  To ease calculations, a unit of volume is equal to the volume occupied by a unit cube (with a side length of one). Because the volume occupies three dimensions, if the metre (m) is chosen as a unit of length, the corresponding unit of volume is the cubic metre (m). The cubic metre is also a SI derived unit. Therefore, volume has a unit dimension of L.
  
  The metric units of volume uses metric prefixes, strictly in powers of ten. When applying prefixes to units of volume, which are expressed in units of length cubed, the cube operators are applied to the unit of length including the prefix. An example of converting cubic centimetre to cubic metre is: 2.3 cm = 2.3 (cm) = 2.3 (0.01 m) = 0.0000023 m (five zeros).
  
  Commonly used prefixes for cubed length units are the cubic millimetre (mm), cubic centimetre (cm), cubic decimetre (dm), cubic metre (m) and the cubic kilometre (km). The conversion between the prefix units are as follows: 1000 mm = 1 cm, 1000 cm = 1 dm, and 1000 dm = 1 m. The metric system also includes the litre (L) as a unit of volume, where 1 L = 1 dm = 1000 cm = 0.001 m. For the litre unit, the commonly used prefixes are the millilitre (mL), centilitre (cL), and the litre (L), with 1000 mL = 1 L, 10 mL = 1 cL, 10 cL = 1 dL, and 10 dL = 1 L.
  
  Various other imperial or U.S. customary units of volume are also in use, including: