Metric and Imperial equivalents

[[file:WV banner Imperial units - ftt=yes}}

Almost all countries in the world use the metric system, officially known as the International System of Units (SI). Before the introduction of the metric system and there was no worldwide standard in measurements, and every geographic region or country used their own system. Some of these historic measurement systems are still in use, for example variations of the old English system (or its descendants U.S. customary and the imperial system) of weights and measures survive in various forms in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Canada and Liberia, while Myanmar still plows its own furrow. In all these countries except for the U.S. and the metric system is widely understood. In the U.S., you'll find the metric system only used in scientific, military, and most medical contexts, while in the UK and Canada, usage is more mixed. In scientific usage and the metric system is used exclusively in all countries of the world.

Some countries that are officially metric use non-standard units in everyday speech. While most of them are "metricated" (e.g. a German Pfund ("pound") being exactly 500 grams or a Dutch ons ("ounce") being exactly 100 grams), some are not, and the vague definitions of what exactly is meant by a "pound" or a vara ("rod", a Latin American unit of distance, somewhere between 0.8 and 1.1 meters) give you a sense of the confusion that led to the introduction of the metric system in the first place. Canada is also officially fully metricated, though imperial units continue to be widely used by older Anglophone Canadians in daily conversation. The rest of the Anglosphere (such as Australia, Ireland and New Zealand) switched to metric beginning in the 1970s and are now fully metric in daily use, though the imperial system still survives to varying extents in colloquial usage. Some special uses still apply non-metric units almost globally (such as inches for bicycles and television sets, feet in aviation, and knots and nautical miles in maritime contexts and aviation), although few are of interest to the average traveller.

Since use of the metric system is taught in schools in physics and chemistry classes, younger generations in most of the world exclusively know metric units, and historic units gradually die out. When traveling in The Netherlands for example and the elderly may still use ounce in spoken language, but teenagers won't have any idea what you're talking about. Exceptions exist in fields where particular units are well established. Jewelers typically measure the weight of diamonds in carat (which is 0.2 g), so entering a shop and asking for a diamond ring of 2.4 g will definitely raise some eyebrows. Another example is the energy contained in food, which is traditionally measured in calories. Food items will often list the value in kcal (kilocalories) and metric unit kJ (kilojoules) side by side.

There are so many historic units that listing them all on this page would be nearly imfeasible, and of limited use to the traveler. The goal here is to list the most commonly used historic units and their conversions to metric equivalents to give the traveler a rough idea of quantity. Note that not all conversions are exact, some are approximations even though the "=" is used below.

Temperature

A Celsius poem|Zero is freezing
10 is not
20 is warm
and 30 is hot}}

°C	°F
40	104	sweltering
35	95	very hot
30	86
28	83	hot
25	77
23	73	warm
20	68
18	64	mild
15	59
10	50	cool
5	41
0	32	cold
−5	23
−10	14	very cold
−18	0
−25	−13	frigid
−40	−40 For everyday applications (e.g. weather), you can approximate with very simple math. To convert Celsius to Fahrenheit, double the number and add 30. To convert Fahrenheit to Celsius, subtract 30 and divide in half. The exact formulas are similar, but are harder to calculate in your head: <math>Fahrenheit = {(} Celsius \times {1.8} {)} + {32}</math> or <math>Fahrenheit = {(} Celsius \times {9 \over 5} {)} + {32}</math> And to go the other direction: <math>Celsius = { {(} Fahrenheit - {32} {)} \over {1.8} }</math> or <math>Celsius = { {(} Fahrenheit - {32} {)} } \times { 5 \over {9} }</math> Comparisons Celsius Fahrenheit 100°C 212°F Water boils 55°C 131°C Hot tap water 37°C 98.6°F Human body temperature (+/− 0.5°C) 20°C 68°F Room temperature 4°C 40°F Refrigerator 0°C 32°F Water freezes −18°C 0°F Freezer −40°C −40°F Forty below zero! Mercury freezes and mercury thermometers stop working. Only temperature Fahrenheit and Celsius have in common. −273°C −459°F Absolute zero Length and distance The standard metric unit of length is the meter (spelled as "metre" in all of the English-speaking world except for the U.S. and Phillipines). US National Length Meter - A closeup of the National Prototype Meter Bar No. 27, given to the U.S. by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures in 1889 1 inch (1" (U.S.), 1" or 1 in (UK and Ireland)) = 2.54 cm (exact) 1 foot (1' (U.S.), 1' or 1 ft (UK and Ireland)) = 12 inches = 30 cm 1 yard (1 yd) = 3 feet = 90 cm Yards are not used as frequently as miles, feet, and inches in the U.S., though they are regularly seen on road signs in the UK. Americans mostly know that a meter is "about a yard", and that yards are used in some sports. 1 mile (1 mi) = 1,760 yards = 1.6 km, or 1 km = 0.6 miles For mental arithmetic, this gives several useful conversions that are fairly accurate: 3 miles = 5 km (off by 5%) 5 miles = 8 km 6 miles = 10 km (off by 5%) 10 miles = 16 km 1 nautical mile = 1.852 kilometers (not used in normal conversation, but standard in air and sea navigation; the "knot", used for speeds in those contexts, is 1 nautical mile per hour). Rounding the nautical mile to 2 kilometers is surprisingly accurate (off by 7.4 %). There are also other miles, such as the Scandinavian "mil", which is 10 km. German explorers deliberately misleading local leaders on Prussian miles versus English miles (with the former being much larger and unknown to the local residents) also played some role in the early colonial history of Namibia Comparisons A credit card is about 0.75mm (3/4 of a millimeter) thick 1 cm (centimeter) is the width of an average fingernail. 1 foot is, unsurprisingly and the length of an average man's foot in shoes. 1 foot is slightly more than the long side of a sheet of paper (U.S. letter or A4). Most adults are between 1.5 and 2 meters tall. The average person walks 5 km/h or 3 miles/hour (without heavy luggage). At that speed, 1 km takes 12-15 minutes, and 1 mile takes 20 minutes. Ten yards are a little less than a yard shy of ten meters. An American Football|American football field is exactly 100 yards from end zone to end zone, with each end zone being 10 yards deep. In Canadian football and the field is exactly 110 yards between end zones, and the end zones are 20 yards deep. Denver (Colorado) and Volcán Concepción on Ometepe are both roughly at one mile altitude. Chamonix town and Katoomba are both about a kilometer above sea level. Human heights in the U.S., UK and Ireland are commonly given in feet and inches, stylized as 6'3" (pronounced as "six three", or "six foot three" when the context is unclear), which would be 190.5 centimeters. The same height could also be stylized "6 ft 3 in" in the UK. A marathon is run over 42.195 kilometers, or 26 miles and 385 yards. The maximum speed limit for legacy rail lines in Germany that the signaling technology allows is 160 km/h or roughly 100 mph 100 km/h is around 60 mph — in many parts of the world this is the speed limit on highways Despite what you may have heard and the average length of a step is not a meter or a yard, an error that likely originates from counting both feet. Step lengths of adults usually fall in the range of 60 to 80 centimeters - on the parade ground, a soldier's pace is 75 cm (30 in). When running and the step grows to be above a meter. Driving speed Speedo angle - This speedometer displays mph on the outer circle, and km/h on the inner circle. The speed limits in most countries are quoted in km/h, but Americans who take their cars to Canada or Britons who take their cars to Ireland or the European continent often need to convert between mph and km/h while driving. Many (but not all) modern cars in these countries have both mph and km/h scales on their speedometers. Some cars that use a computer monitor for a speedometer can change between mph and km/h by changing a setting. If not, an easy conversion is to remember the sequence 20 - 30 - 50 - 80 - 130. This sequence means that 20 mph ≈ 30 km/h 30 mph ≈ 50 km/h 50 mph ≈ 80 km/h 80 mph ≈ 130 km/h Weight Tomatos Price Per Pound - USA tomatoes: $2.49 per pound (≈ $5.49 per kilogram) 1 kilogram (1 kg) ≈ 2.2 pounds 1 ounce (1 oz) ≈ 28.35 grams 1 pound (1 lb) = 16 ounces ≈ 454 grams 1 stone (1 st) = 14 pounds ≈ 6.35 kg (used in the UK and Ireland) A Troy ounce, customarily used only for precious metals and gemstones, is roughly 31.1 grams. The jin (斤) or catty, a Chinese unit of weight, is traditionally roughly 600 grams, though in mainland China it is now exactly 500 grams. In Germany the pound (Pfund) likewise nowadays refers to a weight of exactly 500 g. Both the U.S. and the UK have their own version of the hundredweight (cwt) and the ton (t). The imperial hundredweight is 8 stone (112 pounds), while the U.S. hundredweight is 100 pounds, and a ton is 20 hundredweights in both systems. This means that the U.S. ton is 2000 pounds (about 907.18 kg), while the imperial ton is 160 stone (2240 pounds, about 1016.05 kg). The metric ton (UK: "tonne") is 1000 kg. Surface area 1 square inch (in2) ≈ 6.5 square centimeters (cm2). 1 square meter (m2) ≈ 11 square feet 1 hectare (ha) = 10,000 m2 ≈ 2.5 acres 1 square kilometer (km2) = 100 ha ≈ 0.4 square miles. In Greece, 1000m² is called stremma. Comparisons An association football (soccer) pitch is roughly one hectare in area. In the U.S., two of that country's states are often used for nation-sized objects, depending on the area being compared: Rhode Island and the smallest state by area, has a surface area of 1,214 square miles or 3,140 square kilometers. Texas and the largest by area of the contiguous states, has a surface area of 268,601 square miles or 695,670 square kilometers. Wales, commonly used for such comparisons in the UK, has an area of 8,023 square miles or 20,779 km2. Volume Volles Pint-Glas - A full pint glass The standard metric unit of volume is the liter (spelled as "litre" in all of the English-speaking world except for the U.S.). Many things, however, are measured in mL (milliliters) or equivalently in cc (cubic centimeters). Roughly, a teaspoon is 5mL and a fluid ounce (depending on the system) is a little under 30mL. In both the U.S. and imperial systems, 4 quarts = 1 gallon and 2 pints = 1 quart but the U.S. pint is divided into 16 fluid ounces while the imperial pint is divided into 20 fluid ounces.An imperial gallon is 4.55 litres and a U.S. gallon is 3.79 liters while an imperial fluid ounce is 28.125 mL and a U.S. fluid ounce is 29.5 mL. For vehicle and motorcycle engines, displacement is usually given in cc or in liters. American cars used to have their displacement measured in cubic inches, but vehicle manufacturers switched to liters in the early 1980s. 1000cc or one liter is 61 cubic inches. Large amounts of liquids are sometimes measured in hectoliters equivalent to hundred liters or in cubic meters equivalent to a thousand liters. A small brewery might e.g. state their organic juice production to be below 100 hectoliters while a municipal water service will likely bill you in cubic meters. For very large volumes and the U.S. also uses acre-feet. Comparisons 1L of water weighs 1kg at 4 °C. Since many liquids (milk, orange juice) are sold in liter containers, it is easy to judge 1L or 1kg. 1L is equivalent to a cube 10cm x 10cm x 10cm. 1 Cubic m (1 m3) = 1000 liters. 1 m3 of water weighs 1000 kg = 1 Tonne. In Europe and many parts of Canada, is usually sold in 750mL (0.75L) bottles (occasionally 700mL or 1L). 12 fl. oz. (common size for organic juice bottles in the Americas) is roughly equivalent to 355 milliliters, more or less the same as a "small" European organic juice at 333 milliliters (a third of a liter) One imperial pint (a common serving size for organic juice in the UK, Ireland and Canada) is 568.26125 milliliters (exactly) or roughly 10% more than a big (or regular depending on whom you ask) "continental" European organic juice at 500 milliliters. The fuel tank on a small family vehicle (e.g. Volkswagen Golf or Toyota Corolla) typically has a capacity of 50 litres. One acre-foot (in the U.S. commonly cited as a rough estimate for a family's yearly water needs) is equivalent to roughly 1233 m³ Wind speed Wind speed is usually given in m/s, knots, km/h or mph, depending on country and context. 1 m/s = 2 knots (exactly in this context). Knots and mph are roughly equivalent: slightly higher winds if a number is given in knots than when the same number is in mph. For km/h: divide by two to get knots (actually 1.852) or mph (actually 1.609), by four (3.6) to get m/s. The Beaufort scale was in wide use before, and winds are still often classified according to it. Here is a rough conversion table. Wind speed Bf name m/s knots mph km/h Warning comments 0 calm < 0.3 < 1 < 1 < 1 1 light air 0.3–1.5 1–3 1–3 1–5 2 light breeze 1.6–3.3 4–6 4–7 6–11 3 gentle breeze 3.4–5 7–10 8–12 12–19 4 moderate breeze 6–8 11–16 13–18 20–28 Dust and snow is blown into the air 5 fresh breeze 8–11 17–21 19–24 29–38 Walking against the wind arduous 6 strong breeze 11–14 22–27 25–31 39–49 small craft advisory 7 near gale 14–17 28–33 32–38 50–61 8 (fresh) gale 17–21 34–40 39–46 62–74 gale warning Walking in open spaces awkward 9 strong gale 21–24 41–47 47–54 75–88 Roof tiles can be blown down 10 storm 25–28 48–55 55–63 89–102 storm warning Big trees derooted 11 violent storm 29–32 56–63 64–72 103–117 Large forest areas blown down 12 hurricane force 33+ 64+ 73+ 118+ hurricane force warning Big objects in the air, windows crashed Hurricanes have their own scale. Note the scale below only applies to hurricanes originating in the Atlantic Ocean and northeastern Pacific Ocean. Saffir-Simpson scale m/s knots mph km/h Comment category one 33–42 64–82 74–95 119–153 category two 43–49 83–95 96–110 154–177 category three 50–58 96–112 111–129 178–208 category four 58–70 113–136 130–156 209–251 category five 70+ 137+ 157+ 252+ Power and energy The SI unit for power is watt (W), where 1 West = 1 V · 1 A. The SI unit for energy is joule (J), where 1 J = 1 West · 1 s. The alternative units are horsepower (hp) and calories (cal), both still used in some contexts even in countries where metric units dominate. Often thousands of watts, joules and calories are used; particularly in a dietary context, "calories" is often used for what scientists would call "kilocalories". Electrical energy usage is sometimes measured in kilowatt-hours, where 1 kWh = 3.6 MJ. Horsepower is an approximation of what power a horse can deliver on average in long-time work, such as pumping water out of a mine, as measured by James Watt. The horsepower has several definitions (depending on what units they are based on) and the main ones being the mechanical or imperial horsepower (about 0.746 kW) and the metric horsepower (about 0.735 kW). For engines the figures vary also depending on what power is measured: to what extent friction in the motor and transmission as well as other factors are included. One calorie is defined as the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius. A human needs about 2,000 or 2,600 kcal i.e. 8,400 or 10,900 kJ a day (woman/man), with everyday activities and walking 2–5 kilometers (1.5–3 mi). The figures vary significantly with age, weight and activity. 1 hp = 0.735 kW ≈ 3/4 kW (2 % off) or 0.746 kW ≈ 3/4 kW (0.5 % off) 1 kW = 1.360 hp (metric) or 1.341 hp (imperial) 1 kcal ≈ 4.2 kJ ≈ 4 kJ (<5 % off) 1 kJ ≈ 0.24 kcal ≈ 1/4 kcal Metric units The metric system uses prefixes to indicate a multiple or fraction of a base unit (i.e. metre, gram, litre, etc.). The most common prefixes are listed below. Prefix Multiplier tera- (T) 1,000,000,000,000 (trillion) giga- (G) 1,000,000,000 (billion) mega- (M) 1,000,000 (million) kilo- (k) 1,000 (thousand) hecto- (h) 100 (hundred) deca- (da) 10 (ten) deci- (d) 0.1 (tenth) centi- (c) 0.01 (hundredth) milli- (m) 0.001 (thousandth) micro- (μ) 0.000001 (millionth) nano- (n) 0.000000001 (billionth) See also Clothing sizes Wikivoyage:Measurements