Fluids converters
Viscosity - Kinematic Converter
Convert kinematic viscosity units: m²/s, stokes, centistokes and ft²/s.
Result
0.00001 m²/s
10 cSt = 0.00001 m²/s
All units for this value
| Unit | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Square meter per second | m²/s | 0.00001 |
| Square meter per hour | m²/h | 0.036 |
| Square centimeter per second (stokes) | St | 0.1 |
| Stokes | St | 0.1 |
| Centistokes | cSt | 10 |
| Square millimeter per second | mm²/s | 10 |
| Square foot per second | ft²/s | 0.000107639 |
| Square foot per hour | ft²/h | 0.387501 |
| Square inch per second | in²/s | 0.0155 |
About this calculator
Kinematic viscosity describes how a fluid resists flow under its own weight, obtained by dividing dynamic viscosity by density, and is commonly quoted for engine oils and hydraulic fluids. This converter switches between the SI square meter per second, the CGS stokes and centistokes units printed on most oil labels, and the square-foot-based units used in some US engineering work.
How it works in plain English
The converter anchors every unit to square meters per second, so a value entered in one unit is first rescaled into that base and then rescaled again into the target unit you choose. Square meters per hour simply divides the base unit by 3600 to account for the change from seconds to hours.
The CGS unit called the stokes equals one ten-thousandth of a square meter per second, and centistokes, one-hundredth of a stokes, is the unit most often printed on oil bottles and lubricant datasheets because it produces convenient numbers for everyday fluids; water at room temperature measures about 1 centistoke. The US units use the square foot (0.09290304 m²) and square inch (0.00064516 m²) directly, giving square feet per second and square inches per second as the fluid-mechanics equivalents of the metric area-per-time units.
Select the from and to units, enter your value, and the result updates immediately, backed by a table listing the same kinematic viscosity across every supported unit. A precision control adjusts how many decimal places are shown, and a swap button reverses the two chosen units instantly.
The formula
- value_in_target = value_in_source × (source factor to m²/s) ÷ (target factor to m²/s)
- 1 St (stokes) = 0.0001 m²/s
- 1 cSt (centistokes) = 0.000001 m²/s = 1 mm²/s
- 1 ft²/s = 0.09290304 m²/s
Worked example
Suppose an oil label states a kinematic viscosity of 46 cSt at operating temperature, a typical value for a mid-grade hydraulic fluid, and an engineer needs it in square millimeters per second for a spec sheet that uses that unit instead. Since 1 cSt equals exactly 1 mm²/s, 46 cSt converts directly to 46 mm²/s with no further scaling.
Entering 46 into the centistokes field with mm²/s selected as the target returns 46 mm²/s immediately. The full unit table also converts this same value to 0.000046 m²/s, 0.00046 stokes, and about 0.0000495 ft²/s, all generated from that single entered figure.
Kinematic viscosity of common fluids
| Fluid | Kinematic viscosity (cSt) |
|---|---|
| Water (20 °C) | 1.0 |
| Air (20 °C) | ~15 |
| Engine oil SAE 10W | ~50-60 |
| Engine oil SAE 40 | ~130-160 |
| Diesel fuel | ~2-4 |
| Glycerin | ~1200 |
Standard engineering reference values at room temperature
Frequently asked questions
Why is 1 centistoke exactly equal to 1 mm²/s?
A stokes equals one ten-thousandth of a square meter per second, and a centistokes is one-hundredth of that, which works out to exactly one-millionth of a square meter per second. A square millimeter is also exactly one-millionth of a square meter, so the two units always match numerically.
How is kinematic viscosity related to dynamic viscosity?
Kinematic viscosity equals dynamic viscosity divided by the fluid's density, so it describes flow resistance per unit of mass rather than in absolute force terms. Two fluids with the same dynamic viscosity but different densities will have different kinematic viscosities, which is why oil and lubricant specifications often quote kinematic viscosity alongside a stated temperature.
Why do oil bottles list viscosity in centistokes rather than stokes?
A full stokes is a fairly large unit for common fluids, so most everyday and lubricant viscosities come out as small fractions of a stokes, which is inconvenient to read. Centistokes scales those same values up by a factor of 100, producing more familiar whole numbers like 32, 46, or 68 for common industrial oils.
Does temperature affect the conversion factors used here?
No, the conversion factors between units like centistokes and square meters per second are fixed mathematical relationships that don't change with temperature. Temperature does affect a fluid's actual viscosity value, which is why oil specifications state the temperature at which a given cSt figure was measured, but that's separate from the unit conversion itself.
Can I convert a US spec in ft²/s directly to cSt?
Yes. Select ft²/s as the from unit and centistokes as the to unit, enter the figure, and the converter routes the calculation through the shared m²/s anchor automatically. There's no need to apply the square-foot-to-square-meter conversion by hand.
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