Table of Physical Units
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