Weights and Measures

TEMPERATURE CONVERSIONS
The following can be used as general guidelines to tell the weather in both Celsius and Fahrenheit.

0°C Freezing point of water (32°F)
10°C A warm winter day (50°F)
20°C A mild spring day (68°F)
30°C Quiet warm-almost hot (86°F)
37°C Normal body temperature (98.6°F)
40°C Heat wave conditions (104°F)
100°C Boiling point of water (212°F)

To convert degrees Fahrenheit to degrees Celsius, subtract 32 from he Fahrenheit temperature, multiply the difference by 5, and then divide the product by 9. To convert degrees Celsius to degrees Fahrenheit, multiply the Celsius temperature by 1.8 and add 32.

Absolutely zero, the theoretically lowest temperature possible, is equal, to-273° and - 459.4°F.

SPECIAL WEIGHTS AND MEASURES
Astronomical unit (AU)
the unit of length used in astronomy equal to the mean distance of Earth from the Sun, or about 93 million miles.

Bale
A large bundle of goods. In the United States, the approximate weight of a bale of cotton is 500 pounds.

Board foot (fbm)
a measurement used inn lumber 144 cubic inches (12 inches by 12 inches by 1 inch).

Bolt
used in measuring cloth: 40 yards.

British thermal unit (Btu)
A unit of heat energy measured as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of 1 pound of water from 60° to 61°F at a constant pressure of 1 standard atmosphere (the weight of the atmosphere at mean sea level). One btu is equal to 1054.5 joules in the meter-kilogram-second system of measurements.

Bundle
Two reams of paper

Caliber
The diameter of a bore of a gun, usually expressed in modern U.S. and British usage in hundredths or thousandths of an inch and typically written as a decimal fraction.

Carat
Originally the weight of a seed of the carob tree in the Mediterranean region, today it has two separate meanings (1) 200 milligrams, or 3,086 grains troy, used for measuring the weight of gemstones; and (2) a measure of the amount of gold peer 24 parts of gold ally; in this sense, it also spelled karat. This, 24-carat gold is pure, and 18-carat gold is ¾ gold and ¼ other metal.

Case
Four bundles of paper.

Chain (chi)
A unit of length equal to 66 feet and usually divided into 100 links. Used in surveying.

Decibel
A unit of relative loudness. The smallest amount of change that can be detected by the human ear is 1 decibel. A 20-decibel sound; a 30-decibel sound is 100 times as loud.

10 decibels Light whisper
20 decibels Quiet conversation
30 decibels Normal conversation
40 decibels Light traffic
50 decibels A typewriter; loud conversation
60 decibels A noisy office
70 decibels Normal traffic; a quiet train
80 decibels Raucous music; the subway
90 decibels Heavy traffic; thunder
100 decibels A plane at takeoff
The speed of sound is usually placed at 1,088 feet per second at 32° F at sea level.

Ell
(English) 1 ¼ yards or 1/32 bolt. Used for measuring cloth.

em
A printer's measure designating the square width of any given type size. The em of 10-point type is 10 points. An en is one half of an em.

Freight ton (measurement ton)
40 cubic feet of merchandise. Used for cargo freight.

Gauge
a measure of shotgun bore diameter. Gauge numbers originally referred to the number per pound of round lead balls of a diameter equal to that of the bore. Today, an international agreement assignments millimeter measures to each gauge.

6 Gauge = 23.34 Diameter in mm
10 Gauge = 19.67 Diameter in mm
12 Gauge = 18.52 Diameter in mm
14 Gauge = 17.60 Diameter in mm
16 Gauge = 16.81 Diameter in mm
20 Gauge = 15.90 Diameter in mm

Great gross
12 gross, or 1,728.

Gross
12 dozen, or 144

Hand
A unit of measure equal to 4 inches. Used especially to measure the height of horses.

Hertz
A unit of measure equal to 4 inches. Used especially to measure the height of horses.

Hogshead (hhd)
Two liquid barrels.

Horsepower
The power needed to lift 33,000 pounds a distance of 1 foot in 1 minute (about 1 ½ times the power an average horse can exert) or to lift 550 pounds 1 foot in 1 second. Used to measure the power of steam engines, gasoline engines. Etc.

Knot
A unit for measuring the speed of ships. One knot is 1 nautical mile per hour, 10 knots is 10 nautical miles per hour, and so on.

League
Any of various units of distance from about 2.4 to 4.6 statute miles.

The length of the Mayflower was measured in score-feet (1 score-foot is equal to 20 feet). After outliving its usefulness, the Mayflower was dismantled and rebuilt as a barn.

Light-year
A unit of length in interstellar astronomy equal to the distance that light travels in 1 year in a vacuum, or about 5,878,000,000,000 miles.

Magnum
A large bottle of wine holding about 2/5 gallon.

Parsec
The unit of measure for interstellar space equal to a distance having a heliocentric parallax of 1 second, or to 206,265 times the radius of Earth's orbit, or to 3.26 light-years, or to 19.2 trillion miles.

Pica
One-sixth inch, or 12 points. Used to measure typographical material.

Pipe
Two hogshead. Used to measure wine and other liquids.

Point
0.013836 (approximately 1/72 inch or 1/12 pica. Used in printing to measure type size.

Quintal
100,000 grams, or 220.46 pounds avoirdupois.

Quire
24 or 25 sheets of paper.

Ream
480 or 500 sheets of paper, or 20 quires.

Early systems of measurement used body parts to calculate length. A cubit ran from elbow to middle fingertip. The distance from fingertip to fingertip of outstretched arms was a fathom.

Six Quick Ways to Measure When You Don't Have a Ruler

Most credit cards are 3 3/8 inches by 2 1/8 inches.
Standard business cards are printed 3 ½ inches wide by 2 inches long.
Floor tiles are usually manufactured in 12-inch by 12-inch squares.
U.S. paper currency is 6 1/8 inches wide by 2 5/8 inches long.
The diameter of a quarter is approximately 1 inch. And the diameter of a penny is approximately ¾ inch.
A standard sheet of paper is 8 ½ inches wide by 11 inches long.