Cubic centimetre - wikipedia Cubic centimetre A picture of a measuring cup holding 1000 ml, that is one litre ( l ) or 100 cl A cubic centimetre ( or cubic centimeter in US English ) ( SI unit symbol : cm ; non-SI abbreviations : cc and ccm ) is a commonly used unit of volume that extends the derived SI - unit cubic metre, and corresponds to the volume of a cube that measures 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm. One cubic centimetre corresponds to a volume of 1 / 1,000,000 of a cubic metre, or 1 / 1,000 of a litre, or one millilitre ; thus, 1 cm ≡ 1 ml. The mass of one cubic centimetre of water at 3.98 ° C ( the temperature at which it attains its maximum density ) is closely equal to one gram. SI supports only the use of symbols and deprecates the use of any abbreviations for units. Hence cm is preferred to cc or ccm. Many scientific disciplines have replaced cubic centimeter measurements with milliliters, but the medical and automotive fields in the United States still use the term cubic centimetre. Much of the automotive industry outside the U.S. has switched to litres. The United Kingdom uses millilitres in preference to cubic centimetres in the medical field, but not the automotive. Most other English - speaking countries follow the UK example. There is currently a movement within the medical field to discontinue the use of cc in prescriptions and on medical documents, as it can be misread as `` 00 ''. This could cause a hundredfold overdose of medication, which could be dangerous or even lethal. In the United States, such confusion accounts for 12.6 % of all errors associated with medical abbreviations. One complete cycle of a four - cylinder, four - stroke engine. The areas marked in orange represent the displaced volumes. In automobile engines, `` cc '' refers to the total volume of its engine displacement in cubic centimetres. The displacement can be calculated using the formula d = π 4 × b 2 × s × n ( displaystyle d = ( pi over 4 ) \times b ^ ( 2 ) \times s \times n ) where d is engine displacement, b is the bore of the cylinders, s is length of the stroke and n is the number of cylinders. Conversions 1 millilitre = 1 cm 1 litre = 1000 cm 1 cubic inch = 16.387 cm. See also Centimetre Cubic inch Litre References Jump up ^ International Bureau of Weights and Measures ( 2006 ), The International System of Units ( SI ) ( PDF ) ( 8th ed. ), p. 130, ISBN 92 - 822 - 2213 - 6, archived ( PDF ) from the original on 2017 - 08 - 14 Jump up ^ Brunetti, Luigi ; Santell, John ; Hicks, Rodney ( September 2007 ). Stevenson, James, ed. The Impact of Abbreviations on Patient Safety ( PDF ). The Joint Commission Journal on Quality and Patient Safety. 33. p. 8. Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Cubic_centimetre&oldid=803412096 '' Categories : Units of volume SI derived units Centimetre -- gram -- second system of units Hidden categories : All articles with unsourced statements Articles with unsourced statements from September 2014 Talk About Wikipedia Afrikaans Asturianu Català Čeština Deutsch Ελληνικά Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 客家 語 / Hak - kâ - ngî 한국어 Italiano Kiswahili Kurdî Latviešu Lietuvių Македонски Bahasa Melayu Nederlands 日本 語 Nordfriisk Norsk Norsk nynorsk Polski Português Sicilianu Simple English Slovenčina Svenska Українська Tiếng Việt 粵語 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 2 October 2017, at 11 : 26. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution - ShareAlike License ; additional terms may apply. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. Wikipedia ® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization. About Wikipedia

Question: why is a cubic cm a derived unit
Answer: corresponds to the volume of a cube that measures 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm