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The SI system after 1983, but before the 2019 revision: Dependence of base unit definitions on other base units (for example, the metre is defined as the distance travelled by light in a specific fraction of a second), with the constants of nature and artefacts used to define them (such as the mass of the IPK for the kilogram).
A derived unit is used for expressing any other quantity, and is a product of powers of base units. For example, in the modern metric system, length has the unit metre and time has the unit second, and speed has the derived unit metre per second. [5]: 15 Density, or mass per unit volume, has the unit kilogram per cubic metre. [5]: 434
In its most restrictive interpretation, this is what may be meant when the term metric unit is used. The unit one (1) is the unit of a quantity of dimension one. It is the neutral element of any system of units. [2] In addition to the unit one, the SI defines 7 base units and associated symbols: The second (s) is the unit of time.
The kilogram, symbol kg, is the SI unit of mass. It is defined by taking the fixed numerical value of the Planck constant h to be 6.626 070 15 × 10 −34 when expressed in the unit J⋅s, which is equal to kg⋅m 2 ⋅s −1, where the metre and the second are defined in terms of c and Δν Cs. —
The base units and the derived units formed as the product of powers of the base units with a numerical factor of one form a coherent system of units. Every physical quantity has exactly one coherent SI unit. For example, 1 m/s = 1 m / (1 s) is the coherent derived unit for velocity.
However, the names of all SI mass units are based on gram, rather than on kilogram; thus 10 3 kg is a megagram (10 6 g), not a *kilokilogram. The tonne (t) is an SI-compatible unit of mass equal to a megagram (Mg), or 10 3 kg. The unit is in common use for masses above about 10 3 kg and is often used with SI prefixes.
Unit prefixes are common base-10 or base-2 powers multiples and submultiples of units. While a base unit is one that has been explicitly so designated, [ 2 ] a derived unit is unit for a derived quantity , involving the combination of quantities with different units; [ 1 ] several SI derived units are specially named.
Non-SI units accepted for use with SI units include: the tonne (t) (or "metric ton"), equal to 1000 kg; the electronvolt (eV), a unit of energy, used to express mass in units of eV/c 2 through mass–energy equivalence; the dalton (Da), equal to 1/12 of the mass of a free carbon-12 atom, approximately 1.66 × 10 −27 kg. [note 2]