Units - Base Units Collection

SI Base Units

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We measure and compare the world we know by many standard units.  The most common system of units in today's world is the SI unit system.  The International System of Units (abbreviated from the French Système international) is the modern form of the metric system.  The metric system has become so widely used in the scientific community that other systems of units, such as the American common customary units, have adopted the metric base unit as the base unit for these alternative systems of units.  As an example, the American customary unit of inch is now officially defined as 2.54 centimeters exactly.  

Every system of units has some set of base units from which all other units in the unit system are derived.  By choice, the SI system has the following units as its base units:

• ampere
• candela
• kelvin
• kilogram
• meter
• mole
• second