Square metre

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M^2 redirects here. For other uses, see M².

A Square Meter Quadrat made of PVC pipe.

The square metre (also spelled meter, see spelling differences) is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m². It is defined as the area of a square whose sides measure exactly one metre. The square metre is derived from the SI base unit of the metre, which in turn is defined as the length of the path travelled by light in absolute vacuum during a time interval of ¹⁄_299,792,458 of a second.

Adding SI prefixes creates multiples and submultiples; however, as the unit is squared, the order of magnitude difference between units doubles from their comparable linear units. For example, a kilometre is one thousand times the length of a metre, but a square kilometre is one million times the area of a square metre.

1 SI prefixes applied to the square metre
2 Conversions
3 See also
4 External links

[edit] SI prefixes applied to the square metre

The square metre may be used with all SI prefixes used with the metre.

Multiple	Name	Symbol	Multiple	Name	Symbol
10⁰	square metre	m²
10²	square decametre	dam²	10^–2	square decimetre	dm²
10⁴	square hectometre	hm²	10^–4	square centimetre	cm²
10⁶	square kilometre	km²	10^–6	square millimetre	mm²
10¹²	square megametre	Mm²	10^–12	square micrometre	µm²
10¹⁸	square gigametre	Gm²	10^–18	square nanometre	nm²
10²⁴	square terametre	Tm²	10^–24	square picometre	pm²
10³⁰	square petametre	Pm²	10^–30	square femtometre	fm²
10³⁶	square exametre	Em²	10^–36	square attometre	am²
10⁴²	square zettametre	Zm²	10^–42	square zeptometre	zm²
10⁴⁸	square yottametre	Ym²	10^–48	square yoctometre	ym²

[edit] Conversions

A square metre is equal to:

0.000 001 square kilometre (km²)
10,000 square centimetres (cm²)
0.000 1 hectares (ha)
0.01 ares (a)
1 centiare (ca)
0.000 247 105 381 acres
1.195 990 square yards
10.763 911 square feet
1,550.003 1 square inches

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

BIPM (SI maintenance agency) (home page)
BIPM brochure (SI reference)

SI derived unit square metre, from base unit metre						Orders of magnitude for area						Conversion of units for area
1 fm²	1 pm²	1 nm²	1 µm²	1 mm²			1 m²			1 km²	1 Mm²	1 Gm²	1 Tm²	1 E+30 m²	1 E+36 m²
10 fm²	10 pm²	10 nm²	10 µm²	10 mm²			10 m²			10 km²	10 Mm²	10 Gm²	10 Tm²
100 fm²	100 pm²	100 nm²	100 µm²	100 mm²	=	1 cm²	100 m²	=	1 dam² aka a	100 km²	100 Mm²	100 Gm²	100 Tm²
1,000 fm²	1,000 pm²	1,000 nm²	1,000 µm²	1,000 mm²	=	10 cm²	1,000 m²	=	10 dam² aka a	1,000 km²	1,000 Mm²	1,000 Gm²	1,000 Tm²
10,000 fm²	10,000 pm²	10,000 nm²	10,000 µm²	10,000 mm²	=	1 dm²	10,000 m²	=	1 hm² aka ha	10,000 km²	10,000 Mm²	10,000 Gm²	10,000 Tm²
100,000 fm²	100,000 pm²	100,000 nm²	100,000 µm²	100,000 mm²	=	10 dm²	100,000 m²	=	10 hm² aka ha	100,000 km²	100,000 Mm²	100,000 Gm²	100,000 Tm²		1 E+41 m²