ABSTRACT
The International System of Units (SI units) has seven standards of measurement of which the following are commonly used in geology and geotechnical engineering. This chapter provides information on the fundamental mechanical units, such as length, mass, time, fundamental heat units, derived units, force, pressure and stress, and other quantities. Commonly used multiples of the fundamental units, such as are needed for force, pressure and stress, have been given names. Two such derived units, which are commonly used in geology and geotechnical engineering, are the Newton and the Pascal. The SI base unit of thermodynamic temperature is the Kelvin (K) which has Absolute Zero as zero and the triple point of water (i.e. the temperature at which ice, water and water vapour are in equilibrium) as 273.15 K. The Celsius scale uses this point as its zero and because its scale divisions are the same as those of the Kelvin scale.
