yoctoliter

Yoctoliter (symbol yl) is a unit of volume defined as 10^-24 liters. It is derived from the SI prefix yocto- (10^-24) applied to the liter, and in base units it equals 10^-27 cubic meters. Notably, one yoctoliter is equivalent to one cubic nanometer (1 nm^3), since 1 L equals 10^-3 m^3 and 1 nm^3 equals (1×10^-9 m)^3 = 10^-27 m^3; thus 1 yl = 10^-24 L = 10^-27 m^3 = 1 nm^3.

The liter is a commonly used but non-SI unit for volume, while the SI unit for volume is the cubic meter. Because yoctoliters are extremely small, they appear mainly in highly specialized contexts that deal with nanoscale liquids or minute detector volumes. Examples include nanofluidics, single-molecule experiments, and certain measurements in physics or chemistry where volumes are on the order of a few cubic nanometers. In everyday laboratory work, measurements are typically reported in larger prefixes (such as zeptoliters or femtoliters) or converted to cubic meters to maintain SI consistency.