View source for Stere

{{Short description|Measurement of volume, 1 cubic meter}}
{{for|the Romanian writer|Constantin Stere}}
{{dmy|date=May 2016}}
[[File:Raummeter hg.jpg|thumb|280px|The stere as a cubic metre of stacked firewood]]
The '''stere''' or '''stère''' (st) is a [[units of measurement|unit]] of [[volume]] in the [[metric system|original metric system]] equal to one [[cubic metre]]. The stere is typically used for measuring large quantities of [[firewood]] or other cut wood,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Thierry Thomasset |title=''Le stère'' |url=http://www.utc.fr/~tthomass/Themes/Unites/unites/infos/stere/Le%20stere.pdf |access-date=2011-03-21 |website=Tout sur les unités de mesure [All about the units of measure] |publisher=Université de Technologie de Compiègne |language=French}}</ref> while the cubic meter is used for uncut wood.<ref>For example:{{Cite web |title=Rough guide to calculating timber volumes |url=http://www.forestry.gov.uk/pdf/timbervolume.pdf/$FILE/timbervolume.pdf |publisher=[[Forestry Commission]]}}</ref>  The name was coined from the Greek στερεός ''stereós'', "solid", in 1795 in [[France]] as a metric analogue to the [[Cord (unit of volume)|cord]]. The unit was introduced to remove regional disparities of this former unit, for which the length could vary greatly from 6 to 13.5 m. It is not part of the [[International System of Units|modern metric system (SI)]] and is no longer a legal unit in France, but remains used in the commerce of firewood.

==Background==
The correspondence between stere and cubic meters of stacked wood is imprecise because it depends on the length of the logs used and on how irregular they are. The stere corresponds to {{cvt|1|m3|ft3|1}} of wood, made exclusively with logs of {{cvt|1|m|ft}} in length, all stacked parallel and neatly arranged. If the logs are less than 1 m, the volume of visible wood decreases because the voids are better occupied. Thus the "stere" no longer corresponds to 1 m<sup>3</sup>, but to {{cvt|0.8|m3|ft3|1}} for {{cvt|50|cm|in|1}} logs, {{cvt|0.7|m3|ft3|1}} for {{cvt|33|cm|in|1}} logs and {{cvt|0.6|m3|ft3|1}} for {{cvt|25|cm|in}} logs.

In Dutch and German, a closely related unit called ''kuub'' (Dutch), short for ''kubieke meter'',  or "Kubikmeter" (German) which differs from a stere. Whereas a "kuub" or "Kubikmeter" is a solid cubic metre, as it was traditionally used for wood, a stere (in German: Raummeter) is a cubic metre pile of woodblocks. A stere or Raummeter is less than a kuub or full cubic metre of wood, because the spaces between the woodblocks are included in a stere, while they do not count towards a kuub or Kubikmeter. In Finnish, the same unit is known as ''motti'' (from Swedish ''mått'', "measure").

The stere as used in contexts outside the timber industry is not subject to the same ambiguity.<ref>{{Cite web |year=1913 |title=kilostere |url=http://www.dict.org/bin/Dict?Form=Dict1&Query=kilostere&Strategy=*&Database=*&submit=Submit+query |website=Webster}}</ref> In particular, stere and kilostere are sometimes used in hydrology, as the kilostere ({{cvt|1000|m3|ft3|0}} or [[litre|megalitre]]) is a slightly smaller metric analogue of an [[acre-foot]] (approximately {{cvt|1233|m3|ft3}}), similar to the relationship of the [[tonne|metric tonne]] to the [[short ton]].<ref>{{Cite journal |date=1915-12-11 |url=http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/34/885.toc.pdf |journal=Science |doi=10.1126/science.34.885.813|pmid=17780383 |s2cid=38160755 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161027060709/http://science.sciencemag.org/content/sci/34/885.toc.pdf |archive-date=27 October 2016 |last1=McGee |first1=W. J. |title=Principles of Water-Power Development |volume=34 |issue=885 |pages=813–825 }}</ref>

==See also==
{{div col|colwidth=23em}}
* [[Board foot]]
* [[Cord (unit)]]
* [[Cubic ton]]
* [[Faggot (unit)]]
* [[Forest product]]
* [[Hoppus]]
* [[List of metric units]]
* [[List of unusual units of measurement]]
* [[Petrograd Standard]] 
* [[Units of measurement]]
{{div col end}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stere}}
[[Category:Units of volume]]
[[Category:Non-SI metric units]]
[[Category:Logging]]

{{Expand German|Raummeter|date=May 2016}}
{{Unit-measurement-stub}}
{{Forestry-stub}}

[[ja:ステール]]