Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by delta_p_delta_x 637 days ago
And the SI for that is... cm³.
1 comments

The problem is old habits die hard and to be (or appear) to be consistent then an official designation can be unwieldy, as here.

I simply cannot remember when I last saw cm³ but cc and ml are everywhere including on commercial chemical reagent bottles etc.

The same nomenclature problem is all over chemistry too, the preferred IUPAC name for say isopropyl alcohol is propan-2-ol, and the preferred name for acetone is propan-2-one (systematic 2-Propanone). I can't say I've ever heard anyone ask me to pass them the bottle of propan-2-one, it's just not done (not in my world anyway).

If there's a choice between an awkward or simpler term then the simpler one wins out every time.