Reference

Table of Physical Units

Part of the Fast references glossary:

This table contains links to definitions of physicalquantities, phenomena, and units,primarily in the International System of Units ( SI )and the meter-kilogram-second ( MKS ) system.

Base Units
Quantity or phenomenon
(and symbol) 		Standard International unit
(and symbol) 		Alternate units
(and symbols)
displacement ( d ) meter (m) centimeter (cm)
foot (ft)
mass ( m ) kilogram (kg) gram (g)
time ( t ) second (s or sec) hour (h or hr)
mean solar day (dy)
solar year (yr)
current ( I ) ampere (A) statampere (statA)
abampere (abA)
temperature ( T ) kelvin (ºK or K) degree Celsius (ºC or C)
degree Fahrenheit (ºF or F)
degree Rankine (ºR or R)
amount of substance ( /TERM> mole (mol) --
luminous intensity
( B or L )		 candela (cd) --
Derived Units
Quantity or phenomenon
(and symbol) 		Standard International unit
(and symbol) 		Alternate units
(and symbols)
area ( A ) meter squared (m 2 ) centimeter squared (cm 2 )
circular mil
foot squared (ft 2 )
volume ( V ) meter cubed (m 3 ) centimeter cubed (cm 3 )
foot cubed (ft 3 )
material density ( D ) kilogram per meter cubed
(kg/m 3 or kg · m -3 )		 gram per centimeter cubed
(g/cm 3 or g · cm -3 )
specific volume meter cubed per kilogram
(m 3 /kg or m 3 · kg -1 )		 centimeter cubed per gram
(cm 3 /g or cm 3 · g -1 )
amount of substance concentration mole per meter cubed
(mol/m 3 or mol · m -3 )		 --
force ( F or F )
weight 		newton (N) dyne (dyn)
pound (lb)
impulse ( I or I ) newton-second (N · s) dyne-second (dyn · s)
work ( w ) newton-meter (N · m) dyne-centimeter (dyn · cm)
pressure ( P ) pascal (Pa) dyne per centimeter squared
(dyn/cm 2 or dyn · cm -2 )
speed ( s )
velocity ( v or v )		 meter per second
(m/s or m · s -1 )		 centimeter per second
(cm/s or cm · s -1 )
momentum ( p or p ) kilogram-meter per second
(kg · m/s or kg · m · s -1 )		 gram-centimeter per second
(g · cm/s or g · cm · s -1 )
acceleration ( a or a ) meter per second squared
(m/s 2 or m · s -2 )		 centi meter per second squared
(cm/s 2 or cm · s -2 )
gravity (g)
current density ampere per meter squared
(A/m 2 or A · m -2 )		 ampere per centimeter squared
(A/cm 2 or A · cm -2 )
electromotive force (emf)
voltage ( V or E )		 volt (V) statvolt (statV)
abvolt (abV)
resistance ( R ) ohm statohm
abohm
conductance ( G ) siemens (S) statsiemens (statS)
absiemens (abS)
electric field strength ( E ) volt per meter
(V/m or V · m -1 )		 microvolt per meter
(µV/m or µV · m -1 )
electric flux density ( D ) coulomb per meter squared
(C/m 2 or C · m -2 )		 coulomb per centimeter squared
(C/cm 2 or C · cm -2 )
electric charge density coulomb per meter cubed
(C/m 3 or C · m -3 )		 coulomb per centimeter cubed
(C/cm 3 or C · cm -3 )
permittivity farad per meter
(F/m or F · m -1 )		 picofarad per meter
(pF/m or pF · m -1 )
microfarad per meter
(µF/m or µF · m -1 )
power ( P ) watt (W) horsepower (hp)
statwatt (statW)
abwatt (abW)
energy ( E ) joule (J) erg (erg)
watt hour (Wh)
kilowatt hour (kWh)
heat ( h ) calorie (cal) kilocalorie (kcal)
British thermal unit (Btu)
magnetomotive force ( M ormmf) ampere-turn (AT) gilbert (G)
charge quantity ( Q ) coulomb (C) statcoulomb (statC)
abcoulomb (abC)
faraday
capacitance ( C ) farad (F) statfarad (statF)
abfarad (abF)
inductance ( L ) henry (H) stathenry (statH)
abhenry (abH)
magnetic flux weber (Wb) maxwell (Mx)
magnetic flux density tesla (T) gauss (G)
magnetic field strength ( H ) ampere per meter
(A/m or A · m -1 )		 oersted (Oe)
permeability ( µ ) henry per meter
(H/m or H · m -1 )		 microhenry per meter
(µH/m or µH · m -1 )
electromagnetic field strength watt per meter squared
(W/m 2 or W · m -2 )		 microwatt per meter squared
(µW/m 2 or µW · m -2 )
radiant intensity watt per steradian
(W/sr or W · sr -1 )		 --
luminous flux lumen (lm) --
luminance candela per meter squared
(cd/m 2 or cd · m -2 )		 candela per centimeter squared
(cd/cm 2 or cd · cm -2 )
illuminance lux (lx) watt per meter squared
(W/m 2 or W · m -2 )
plane angular measure radian (rad) angular degree (deg or º)
solid angular measure steradian (sr) angular degree (deg or º)
angular speed
angular velocity 		radian per second
(rad/s or rad · s -1 )		 degree per second
(deg/s or deg · s -1 )
angular acceleration radian per second squared
(rad/s 2 or rad · s -2 )		 degree per second squared
(deg/s 2 or deg · s -2 )
ionizing radiation becquerel (Bq) curie (cu)
absorbed ionizing radiation dose gray (Gy) rad (rad)
frequency ( f ) hertz (Hz) kilohertz (kHz)
megahertz (MHz)
gigahertz (GHz)
terahertz (THz)
wavelength meter (m) centimeter (cm)
millimeter (mm)
micrometer (µm or µ)
nanometer (nm)
Angström (Å)
wave number reciprocal meter (m -1 ) --
data quantity bit (b)
byte (B)		 kilobit (kb)
megabit (Mb)
gigabit (Gb)
terabit (Tb)
petabit (Pb)
exabit (Eb)
kilobyte (KB)
megabyte (MB)
gigabyte (GB)
terabyte (TB)
petabyte (PB)
exabyte (EB)
bandwidth (signal) Hertz (Hz) kilohertz ( kHz )
megahertz ( MHz )
bandwidth (data transfer rate) bit per second ( bps ) kilobit per second
(Kbps)
megabit per second
(Mbps)
gigabit per second
(Gbps)
character per second
(cps)

This was last updated in May 2008
Posted by: Margaret Rouse

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