National foreword

This British Standard is the UK implementation of EN ISO 80000‑1:2022. It is identical to ISO 80000‑1:2022. It supersedes BS EN ISO 80000‑1:2013, which is withdrawn.

The UK participation in its preparation was entrusted to Technical Committee SS/7, General metrology, quantities, units and symbols.

A list of organizations represented on this committee can be obtained on request to its committee manager.

Contractual and legal considerations

This publication has been prepared in good faith, however no representation, warranty, assurance or undertaking (express or implied) is or will be made, and no responsibility or liability is or will be accepted by BSI in relation to the adequacy, accuracy, completeness or reasonableness of this publication. All and any such responsibility and liability is expressly disclaimed to the full extent permitted by the law.

This publication is provided as is, and is to be used at the recipient’s own risk.

The recipient is advised to consider seeking professional guidance with respect to its use of this publication.

This publication is not intended to constitute a contract. Users are responsible for its correct application.

Compliance with a British Standard cannot confer immunity from legal obligations.

This British Standard was published under the authority of the Standards Policy and Strategy Committee on 31 December 2022.

Foreword

ISO (the International Organization for Standardization) is a worldwide federation of national standards bodies (ISO member bodies). The work of preparing International Standards is normally carried out through ISO technical committees. Each member body interested in a subject for which a technical committee has been established has the right to be represented on that committee. International organizations, governmental and non-governmental, in liaison with ISO, also take part in the work. ISO collaborates closely with the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC) on all matters of electrotechnical standardization.

The procedures used to develop this document and those intended for its further maintenance are described in the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 1. In particular, the different approval criteria needed for the different types of ISO documents should be noted. This document was drafted in accordance with the editorial rules of the ISO/IEC Directives, Part 2 (see www.iso.org/directives).

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. ISO shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights. Details of any patent rights identified during the development of the document will be in the Introduction and/or on the ISO list of patent declarations received (see www.iso.org/patents).

Any trade name used in this document is information given for the convenience of users and does not constitute an endorsement.

For an explanation of the voluntary nature of standards, the meaning of ISO specific terms and expressions related to conformity assessment, as well as information about ISO's adherence to the World Trade Organization (WTO) principles in the Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT), see www.iso.org/iso/foreword.html.

This document was prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 12, Quantities and units, in collaboration with IEC/TC 25, Quantities and units.

This second edition cancels the first edition (ISO 80000‑1:2009), which has been technically revised. It also incorporates the Technical Corrigendum ISO 80000‑1:2009/Cor.1:2011.

The main changes are as follows:

More focus on concepts and terminology based on a system of quantities, particularly following the recent major revision of the International System of Units (SI) and the proposed revisions of the International vocabulary of metrology (VIM).
At the same time, subclauses of previous editions of this document which essentially reproduced content from other sources – particularly metrological vocabulary, descriptions of SI units and compilations of fundamental constants – have been substantially removed from the present edition, in accordance with a resolution taken by ISO/TC 12 in 2020.

A list of all parts in the ISO 80000 and IEC 80000 series can be found on the ISO website.

Any feedback or questions on this document should be directed to the user’s national standards body. A complete listing of these bodies can be found at www.iso.org/members.html.

Introduction

Systems of quantities – as defined in ISO/IEC Guide 99 – can be treated in many consistent, but different, ways. Which treatment to use is partly a matter of convention.

The quantities and relations among the quantities used here are those almost universally accepted for use throughout the physical sciences. They are presented in the majority of scientific textbooks today and are familiar to all scientists and technologists.

The quantities and the relations among them are essentially infinite in number and are continually evolving as new fields of science and technology are developed. Thus, it is not possible to list all these quantities and relations in the ISO/IEC 80000 series; instead, a selection of the more commonly used quantities and the relations among them is presented.

It is inevitable that some readers working in particular specialized fields may find that the quantities they are interested in using may not be listed in this document or in another International Standard. However, provided that they can relate their quantities to more familiar examples that are listed, this will not prevent them from defining units for their quantities.

The system of quantities presented in this document is named the International System of Quantities (ISQ), in all languages. This name was not used in ISO 31 series, from which the present harmonized series has evolved. However, the ISQ does appear in ISO/IEC Guide 99 and is the system of quantities underlying the International System of Units, denoted “SI”, in all languages according to the SI Brochure.

This European Standard was approved by CEN on 2 December 2022.

CEN members are bound to comply with the CEN/CENELEC Internal Regulations which stipulate the conditions for giving this European Standard the status of a national standard without any alteration. Up-to-date lists and bibliographical references concerning such national standards may be obtained on application to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre or to any CEN member.

This European Standard exists in three official versions (English, French, German). A version in any other language made by translation under the responsibility of a CEN member into its own language and notified to the CEN-CENELEC Management Centre has the same status as the official versions.

CEN members are the national standards bodies of Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and United Kingdom.

European foreword

This document (EN ISO 80000‑1:2022) has been prepared by Technical Committee ISO/TC 12 "Quantities and units" in collaboration with CCMC.

This European Standard shall be given the status of a national standard, either by publication of an identical text or by endorsement, at the latest by June 2023, and conflicting national standards shall be withdrawn at the latest by June 2023.

Attention is drawn to the possibility that some of the elements of this document may be the subject of patent rights. CEN shall not be held responsible for identifying any or all such patent rights.

This document supersedes EN ISO 80000‑1:2013.

Any feedback and questions on this document should be directed to the users’ national standards body/national committee. A complete listing of these bodies can be found on the CEN website.

According to the CEN-CENELEC Internal Regulations, the national standards organizations of the following countries are bound to implement this European Standard: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta, Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Republic of North Macedonia, Romania, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Türkiye and the United Kingdom.

Endorsement notice

The text of ISO 80000‑1:2022 has been approved by CEN as EN ISO 80000‑1:2022 without any modification.

1 Scope

This document gives general information and definitions concerning quantities, systems of quantities, units, quantity and unit symbols, and coherent unit systems, especially the International System of Quantities (ISQ).

The principles laid down in this document are intended for general use within the various fields of science and technology, and as an introduction to other parts of this International Standard.

The ISO/IEC 80000 series does not, as yet, cover ordinal quantities and nominal properties.

2 Normative references

3 Terms and definitions

4 Quantities

4.1 The concept of quantity

4.2 System of quantities – Base quantities and derived quantities

4.3 Universal constants and empirical constants

4.4 Constant multipliers in quantity equations

4.5 International System of Quantities, ISQ

5 Dimensions

6 Units

6.1 General

6.2 Units and numerical values

6.3 Mathematical operations

6.4 Quantity equations and numerical value equations

6.5 Coherent systems of units

7 Printing rules

7.1 Symbols for quantities

7.2 Numbers

7.3 Chemical elements and nuclides

7.4 Greek alphabet

Bibliography

BS EN ISO 80000-1:2022

Quantities and units - General

Current

Published:

15 Dec 2022