How Big is a Cubic Meter?

Those receiving, or at times sending, goods from overseas at times may need to convert from one measuring unit to the other. You may also wonder about the actual size of certain units such as a cubic meter. You might also wonder what dimensions fit into it and try to imagine just how much cargo you should be expecting. In case you're the one sending the items overseas, you might also be wondering just how many boxes you will need.

Defining Cubic Meters

When dealing with this unit of measure, you're actually talking about the volume of the cargo you are shipping or receiving. An alternate spelling aside from the American English is 'cubic metre'. It is one of the base units specified by the International System of Units. Some people call this unit of measure as stere.

This simply means it is one of the units in which all other measurement units are based. This unit of measure was once known as the 'kilolitre', though that term isn't that popular anymore. It is also representative of the expression of the concentration of any chemical via a volume of air.

Converting to Other Units of Measure

Sometimes, it is a lot easier to picture out how big a cubic meter is by comparing it with other units of measure that we are more familiar with. However, do take note that even though we convert it to other units or systems of measurement, we can still find a way to fit the same volume into different dimensions. So, different freight carriers can have boxes in different dimensions and still have the same amount of volume.

One cubic meter can be converted exactly to 1,000 liters. This is drawn from the fact that it is equal exactly to 1,000 liters of water at the standard atmospheric pressure while at its temperature of maximum density, which is at 3.98 degrees Celsius. It is also interesting that the equivalent drops slightly at the freezing point of water where the volume drops a bit down to 999.972 kilograms, which is still pretty close.

Expressed in feet, it is roughly the equivalent of 35.3 cubic feet or about 1.3 cubic yards. It is the equivalent of 8.65 US dry barrels. It is about 67,628.044 tablespoons or 35,195.079 UK fluid ounces. It is also roughly around 879.876 quarts in the UK or 908.082 US dry quarts. Tip: you can go online and look for a metric conversion site to convert cubic meters to other units of measure without doing the actual math.