How to Convert Weight Measurements

There are a variety of systems for measuring weight - metric weight, Avoirdupois weight, troy weight, apothecaries' weight. Only the first two are described below, as they are the most commonly used. Refer to the related sites for other systems.

Difficulty:

Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need

• Calculators
• Scales
• Kitchen Scales
• Paper And Pencils

Convert Measurements Within the U.S. (Avoirdupois) System

1. About 27 grains equal 1 dram.

2. Sixteen drams equal 1 ounce.

3. Sixteen ounces equal 1 pound.

4. One hundred pounds equal 1 short hundredweight.

5. Twenty short hundredweight (or 2,000 pounds) equal 1 short ton.

Convert Measurements Within the Metric System

1. Ten milligrams equal 1 centigram.

2. Ten centigrams equal 1 decigram.

3. Ten decigrams (or 1,000 milligrams) equal 1 gram.

4. Ten grams equal 1 decagram.

5. Ten decagrams equal 1 hectogram.

6. Ten hectograms (or 1,000 grams) equal 1 kilogram.

Convert Measurements Between U.S. and Metric Systems

1. One ounce equals about 28 grams (28.350 g). 1 gram equals 0.035 ounce.

2. One pound equals 0.45 kilograms. 1 kilogram equals 2.2 pounds.

3. One short ton equals 907 kilograms.

Tips & Warnings

• The metric system is very easy to learn. It takes a basic unit of measurement (meters for distance, liters for volume, grams for weight) and then adds prefixes to indicate smaller or larger quantities.

• "Milli-" is one-thousandth, "centi-" is one-hundredth and "deci-" is one-tenth of the basic unit of measure (grams, in this case).

• "Deca-" is 10 times, "hecto-" is 100 times and "kilo-" is 1,000 times the basic unit of measure, or gram. 1,000 grams make 1 kilogram.

• Use approximations for easier conversions between grams and ounces, and kilograms and pounds.