kcmil\text{kcmil}

thousand circular mils

Areaexact by definition

A kcmil is one thousand circular mils, about 5.067 × 10⁻⁷ m² or 0.5067 mm². It is the standard size designation for large electrical conductors in North America, taking over where American Wire Gauge runs out above 4/0: a 500 kcmil feeder is a common service conductor.

Watch out: A kcmil is a conductor cross section, not an ampacity. Two 500 kcmil cables in different insulations, temperatures and conduit fills carry very different currents, and the NEC tables exist precisely because the area alone does not answer the question.

1 kcmil\text{kcmil} 5.0670748e-07 m2\text{m}^{2}
Where the unit came from

The older designation was MCM, using the Roman numeral M for a thousand. It means exactly the same thing, and the NEC switched to kcmil to stop people reading the M as the SI mega prefix. Both appear on cable reels.

One thousand circular mils in every area unit

5.06707e+27microbarn (μb)
5.06707e+24millibarn (mb)
5.06707e+21barn (b)
506,707,000,000square nanometer (nm²)
506,707square micrometer (μm²)
1,000circular mil (cmil)
1thousand circular mils (kcmil)this unit
0.506707square millimeter (mm²)
0.00506707square centimeter (cm²)
0.000785398square inch (in²)
0.0000506707square decimeter (dm²)
0.00000545415square foot (ft²)
6.06017e-07square yard (yd²)
5.06707e-07square meter (m²)
1.53279e-07tsubo (tsubo)
2.00336e-08square rod (rd²)
5.06707e-09are (a)
1.25210e-09square chain (ch²)
5.06707e-10dunam (dunam)
5.00841e-10rood (rood)
1.25210e-10acre (ac)
5.06707e-11hectare (ha)
5.06707e-13square kilometer (km²)
1.95641e-13square mile (mi²)