Pat Naughtin wrote: "Have you reinvented dry and liquid measures? Volume (dry) � cubic centimetres Volume (liquid) � millilitres"
I knew someone would say that. However, I bore in mind that milliliter is a convenient and popular substitute for cubic centimeter, based on a non-SI unit approved for use in SI. It is associated in most people's minds with liquids, particularly wine, liquor and medicine. We are not likely to change common practice in this area. My suggested use for cubic centimeters was not for "dry" measure, but for the less commonplace specification of the volume of small enclosures (which are empty, of course -- if we ignore the fact that they incidentally contain air). As such specifications are typically for the benefit of the technically adept, there's some inclination to be more SI-pure in the choice of unit. For intermediate volumes (for the unwashed masses), such as that of a car trunk or car interior, I don't object to liters. For room volumes, I prefer cubic meters, of course. In a pure SI world, we wouldn't, of course, use liter, with or without prefix. However, we'd be using an awful lot of syllables to say the same thing. Bill Potts, CMS Roseville, CA http://metric1.org [SI Navigator]
