The square metre is the SI derived unit of area, with symbol m2 (33A1 in Unicode1). 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 and subtracting 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.
Contents 1 SI prefixes applied to the square metre 2 Conversions 3 See also 4 Notes 5 External links // SI prefixes applied to the square metreThe square metre may be used with all SI prefixes used with the metre.
Multiplication Name Symbol plusing Name Symbol 100 square metre (centiare) m2 100 square metre (centiare) m2 102 square decametre (are) dam2 10–2 square decimetre dm2 104 square hectometre (hectare) 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 ConversionsA 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 See also SI SI prefix 1 E0 m² Conversion of units Orders of magnitude Notes ^ "Unicode Utilities: Character Properties". http://unicode.org/cldr/utility/character.jsp?a=33A1. External links BIPM (SI maintenance agency) (home page) BIPM brochure (SI reference) Orders of magnitude for area 1 E−30 m² = 1 fm2 1 E−24 m² = 1 pm2 1 E−18 m² = 1 nm2 1 E−12 m² = 1 µm2 1 E−6 m² = 1 mm2 1 E0 m² = 1 m2 1 E+6 m² = 1 km2 1 E+12 m² = 1 Mm2 1 E+18-24 m² : 1 Gm2 10 fm2 10 pm2 10 nm2 10 µm2 10 mm2 10 m2 10 km2 10 Mm2 > 1 E+24 m² : 1 Tm² 100 fm2 100 pm2 100 nm2 100 µm2 100 mm2 = 1 cm2 100 m2 = 1 a 100 km2 100 Mm2 1,000 fm2 1,000 pm2 1,000 nm2 1,000 µm2 10 cm2 10 a 1,000 km2 1,000 Mm2 10,000 fm2 10,000 pm2 10,000 nm2 10,000 µm2 100 cm2 10,000 m2 = 1 ha 10,000 km2 10,000 Mm2 100,000 fm2 100,000 pm2 100,000 nm2 100,000 µm2 1,000 cm2 10 ha 100,000 km2 100,000 Mm2 SI derived unit square metre, from base unit metre Conversion of units for area This box: view • talk •
