Metre-tonne-second system of units

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The metre-tonne-second or mts system of units is a system of physical units. It was invented in France, hence the unit names sthène and pièze, and was adopted only by the Soviet Union in 1933, and abolished there in 1955. It was built on the same principles as the cgs system, but with larger units for industrial use. The cgs system on the other hand was regarded as suitable for laboratory use only.

Units

The base units of the mts system are as follows:

• length: metre
• volume: stère

  1 st ≡ 1 m³ = 1kL

• mass: tonne,

  1 t ≡ 10³ kg

• time: second
• force: sthène,

  1 sn ≡ 1 t·m/s² = 10³ N = 1 kN

• energy: sthene-metre = kilojoule,

  1 sn·m ≡ 1 t·m²/s² = 10³ J = 1 kJ

• power: sthene-metre per second = kilowatt,

  1 sn·m/s ≡ 1 t·m²/s³ = 10³ W = 1 kW

• pressure: pièze,

  1 pz ≡ 1 t/m·s² = 10³ Pa = 1 kPa