A decametre ( International spelling as used by the

International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (french: Bureau international des poids et mesures, BIPM) is an intergovernmental organisation, through which its 59 member-states act together on measurement standards in four areas: chemistry, ...

and by most English speaking countries, United States spelling dekameter or decameter,), symbol dam ("da" for the

SI prefix The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...

deca- ''Deca'' (American and British English spelling differences#-re, -er, International spelling as used by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures;

, "m" for the SI unit

metre The metre (British spelling) or meter (American spelling; see spelling differences) (from the French unit , from the Greek noun , "measure"), symbol m, is the primary unit of length in the International System of Units (SI), though its pref ...

), is a

unit of length A unit of length refers to any arbitrarily chosen and accepted reference standard for measurement of length. The most common units in modern use are the metric units, used in every country globally. In the United States the U.S. customary units ...

in the

International System of Units The International System of Units, known by the international abbreviation SI in all languages and sometimes pleonastically as the SI system, is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. E ...

(SI) equal to ten metres. While any combination of SI prefix and unit can be used, many are rarely used in practice; the decametre is used less frequently than other units of length. One practical use is for altitude of

geopotential height Geopotential height or geopotential altitude is a vertical coordinate referenced to Earth's mean sea level, an adjustment to geometric height (altitude above mean sea level) that accounts for the variation of gravity with latitude and altitude. Thu ...

s in meteorology. The volumetric form ''cubic decametre'' is convenient for describing large volumes of water such as in rivers and lakes; a volume of one cubic decametre (dam³) is equivalent to a capacity of one megalitre (ML). One

technical atmosphere Technical may refer to: * Technical (vehicle), an improvised fighting vehicle * Technical analysis, a discipline for forecasting the future direction of prices through the study of past market data * Technical drawing, showing how something is co ...

is the pressure of one decameter of water. Also, the are (a), a metric unit for land

area Area is the quantity that expresses the extent of a region on the plane or on a curved surface. The area of a plane region or ''plane area'' refers to the area of a shape A shape or figure is a graphics, graphical representation of an obje ...

, is equal to one square decametre (dam²).

References

Metre +31 {{measurement-stub

See also

References