The ton, also called metric ton and abbreviated as "t", is a unit of measurement of mass, widely used when it comes to large quantities. For example, the annual harvest of a certain vegetable, the amount of mineral extracted from a large mine, or also to express the mass of animals and very large things.

Since its inception, humanity needed units to measure length, time, mass and capacity. In addition to serving to quantify the things that were had, it facilitated the exchange with other people, as long as everyone was aware of the symbolized amount.

The equivalent of one metric ton equals 1000 kilograms in the metric system. The ton does not belong to the International System of Units, but its use is widespread at the level of science, industry, economy and commerce.

As we have said, always for animals or large objects, since it does not make sense to express the mass of a person in tons, but for a blue whale, the value is quite illustrative, because it immediately provides an idea of ​​how big it is: a whale Adult blue can weigh about 200 tons.

The African elephant is the largest land mammal in the world. An adult male can weigh 7 tons. Source: Pixabay.

As is known, the density of pure water at 4ºC is 1000 kg for each cubic meter. The metric ton is precisely the mass of water contained in a 1 m ³ container.

Also, the ton is used extensively in colloquial language, when referring to very heavy objects or large amounts of anything, for example "tons of work", "tons of problems" and phrases like that.

How to transform tons to kilos (and vice versa)

To transform any unit into another, whether of mass, length, time, money or any other, the conversion factors are required. Using them, and performing simple arithmetic operations, it is possible to go from one unit to another quickly.

The respective conversion factors to transform tons to kilos and vice versa are:

Transforming tons to kilograms is very simple: just multiply by 1000. And if you need to do the reverse procedure: go from kilograms to tons, you have to divide the quantity by 1000.

Equivalence between the metric ton and the kilogram. The capital prefix M stands for "mega." Source: Wikimedia Commons + Pixabay.

Another way to do the unit transformation is by using a simple rule of three. But the advantage of conversion factors is the speed with which more complex units can be transformed, simplifying the result.

Likewise, the conversion factors allow successive changes of units, minimizing the possibility of making mistakes from one change to another.

Lastly, there are also many unit converters online that include tons.

Example 1

A large load is known to be 267.37 t. How many kilograms is this load equal to?

Assuming we don't have an online converter on hand, then we use the first of the conversion factors listed above:

How to transform tons to grams (and vice versa)

To transform tons to grams, you must establish a conversion factor that links grams and tons. But first we'll link the grams (abbreviated as g) and the kilograms:

And now we write:

Since 1000 kg = 1 t, then the desired conversion factor is:

This is equivalent to multiplying by a million, or the unit followed by 6 zeros. And in the same way, if you want to convert grams to tons, then you must use:

Since the number is so small, it is usually expressed using scientific notation, which is much more comfortable:

You can also express the ton to gram conversion in scientific notation:

A ton is known as a megagram, since putting the prefix mega before any unit means multiplying it by 1 × 10 ⁶.

Short and long tons

In Anglo-Saxon countries other versions of the ton are used: the short ton used in the United States is equivalent to 2000 pounds, and the long ton (long ton), common in the United Kingdom, is equivalent to 2240 pounds. This article is dedicated to the metric ton, or metric ton.

Because there are several meanings for ton in English, make sure to write “metric ton” when using online English unit converters. To always be sure, remember that: 1 metric ton = 1000 kg

Examples of tons

It should be remembered that the ton is a unit of mass, but weight and mass are proportional in magnitude, so both terms are used interchangeably in colloquial language. Hence, data like these are found on the network:

-The African elephant can weigh up to 7 t, while the Asian elephant reaches 5 t.

-The Eiffel Tower weighs about 10,000 t. 7300 t of iron were used in its construction.

The Eiffel Tower in Paris, the capital of France, weighs 10,000 tons. Source: Pixabay.

-A humpback whale reaches 50 t.

-A large tyrannosaurus rex could have 8 tons.

-11 t is what the Hubble Space Telescope weighs.

-A Japanese compact sedan weighs around 1 t.

-Artificial satellites can weigh between 0.6 and 2 t.

Other equivalences

The following table shows the equivalences between 1 ton and other units of mass typical of certain areas.

To transform tons to any of the units in the first row, simply multiply the value by the conversion factor that appears in the corresponding column.

Table of other equivalences for the metric ton

For example, suppose we need to transform a mass from 46.8 t to a slug, which is the unit of mass in the British System of Units. The conversion factor is:

Thus:

* Many countries have different conversions for the at sign. In some it is 12 kg and in others 25 kg, for example.

Solved exercises

- Exercise 1

It is required to pack 3.75 t of coal in bags of 75 kg each. How many bags can be filled?

3.75 t = 3750 kg

To find out how many bags of 75 kg each can be filled, just divide the kilograms of coal by 75:

3750 kg / (75 kg / bag) = 50 bags

- Exercise 2

Each hectare of land is known to produce 2.5 tons of hay. How many kilograms per square meter does this amount represent?

Solution

As two units are going to be transformed at the same time: tons and hectares, it is convenient to use the conversion factors. It is known that 1 hectare = 1 Ha = 10,000 m ², with this in mind:

Referencias

1. Convertidor de unidades de Masa online. Recuperado de: ingenieriaycalculos.com.
2. Sencamer. Sistema Internacional de Unidades. Recuperado de: sencamer.gob.ve.
3. Wikilibros. Sistema Internacional de Unidades de medida (SI).Recuperado de: es.wikibooks.org.
4. Wikipedia. Tonelada. Recuperado de: es.wikipedia.org.
5. Wikipedia. Tonne. Recuperado de: en.wikipedia.org.