See also tun.
tons that are units of mass
metric ton or tonne
tons that are units of capacity: Most of these arise from the way carriers bill for the transport of goods.
tons that measure neither mass nor capacity
United States commercial ton of refrigeration
British commercial ton of refrigeration
tonnes of oil equivalent (toe)
In Great Britain and Pakistan, 2,240 pounds. It is equal to 20 hundredweights, each of 112 pounds. In the United States, “ton” usually refers to 2000 pounds, and the 2240-pound ton is called a “long ton.”
In the United States, a unit of mass, approximately 29.167 grams. The number of milligrams of precious metal in one assay ton of the ore being tested is equal to the number of troy ounces of pure precious metal in one 2000-pound av. ton of the ore.
A measure of the carrying capacity of a ship, the number of long tons (of 2240 pounds av) it can float. Abbr, dwt.
In South Africa, 20th century, 2,000 pounds.
In the United States, 2,240 pounds. Sometimes called a gross ton. The short ton (2,000 pounds) has always been the usual ton in the United States. The long ton was principally used for anthracite coal (in Pennsylvania), for certain iron and steel products in bulk, and in estimating customs duties.
Coal Miners’ Pocketbook, 13th ed. pages 5-6.
In the United States, 2,000 pounds. Sometimes called a net ton.
1000 kilograms. Abbreviation, mt. By the original concept for defining masses in the metric system, a metric ton would be the mass of a cubic meter of water.
A unit used in describing the cargo capacity of a ship, = 100 cubic feet (approximately 2.83 cubic meters). Called a tonneau de mer in Belgium. In France, the tonneau de mer is 1.44 cubic meters (about 1.88 cubic yards).
U.S. Revised Statutes, 4153 (a1909).
The volume occupied by a long ton of seawater, about 35 cubic feet.
A unit of capacity used in billing ships for their passage through the Panama Canal, = 100 cubic feet. In the early 1990's, for a laden ship the fee was $2.21 per Panama Canal net ton.1
1. Frederic Allen.
Inside the Panama Canal.
American Heritage of Invention and Technology, volume 12, number 2 (Fall 1996).
Page 22.
The British shipping ton, a unit of capacity, = 42 cubic feet.
The United States shipping ton = 40 cubic feet, another name for the freight ton.
In the United States, 40 cubic feet. A common practice is to bill for shipping by volume unless a freight ton of the product shipped weighs more than 1 short ton, in which case the shipping charge is based on weight. Also called a measurement ton or United States shipping ton.
In the United Kingdom, 224 imperial gallons.
Units used in refrigeration and air conditioning.
In the United States, one commercial ton of refrigeration is a rate of extraction of 200 BtuIST per minute (3516.857 joules per second), or in other terms, the rate that will freeze one short ton of ice of specific latent heat 144 BtuIT per pound in 24 hours from water at the same temperature. Symbol CTR, or CTR(US).
The U.S. standard ton of refrigeration describes an amount of cooling, not a rate. One standard ton = 288,000 Btuist removed, which is approximately the cooling provided by melting 2009.1 pounds of ice. Extracting heat at the rate of 1 commercial ton of refrigeration results in a standard ton removed each day.
The British commercial ton of refrigeration resembles the American except that it is based on a long ton (2240 pounds) of ice. About 3922.696721 joules per second. Symbol, CTR(UK). 1 CTR(UK) = 1.1154 CTR(US).
A unit of energy used to describe the explosive power of weapons, equal to the energy released by the explosion of 1 short ton of TNT (trinitrotoluene), exactly 4.184 × 109 joules. Usually expressed as kilotons, abbr KT, (1 kiloton = 4.184 terajoules) or megatons, abbr MT (1 megaton = 4.184 petajoules).
A 1-megaton air-burst bomb blast destroys wood frame buildings five to seven miles from the blast site. The extent of the damage is proportional to the cube root of the energy released; a 27-megaton bomb would destroy such buildings fifteen to twenty-one miles away. “Little Boy,” the bomb dropped on Hiroshima in 1945, had an explosive yield of about 13 kilotons. A current American atomic bomb, the B-61, is authoritatively estimated to have a yield between 100 and 500 kilotons.1 In 1961, the Soviet Union exploded a thermonuclear weapon (a “hydrogen bomb”) with a yield of 58 megatons.
1. Nuclear Weapons Databook.
A unit describing the energy content of a quantity of a fuel, by comparing it to the energy content of a metric tonne of oil. It is used in comparing fuel energy inputs and outputs in economies. Abbr, toe. The SI prefixes are used with this unit.
The International Energy Agency uses the following equivalents:
| 1 metric tonne of this product | Energy equivalent |
|---|---|
| coal | varies by nation |
| ethane | 1.18 toe |
| liquified petroleum gases (LPG) | 1.13 toe |
| aviation fuel | 1.07 toe |
| automobile gasoline | 1.07 toe |
| jet fuel | 1.065 toe |
| kerosene | 1.045 toe |
| middle distillates | 1.035 toe |
| heavy fuel oil | 0.96 toe |
| naphtha | 1.075 toe |
| other products | 0.96 toe |
| 1 terajoule natural gas | 0.00002388 Mtoe |
| 1 terawatt-hour of electricity | 0.086 Mtoe |
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Last revised: 23 September 2004.