T&T: Tuns, Tons and Tonnes

[John Blackburn]

>From Wikipideia

Long Ton (sometimes known as a Gross Ton, Weight Ton, or Imperial Ton) is
the name for the unit called the "Ton" in the Avoirdupois or Imperial
system of measurements, as formerly used in the United Kingdom and
several other Commonwealth countries. It has been replaced by the metric
tonne. It is equal to 2240 pounds (exactly 1016.0469088 kilograms). It
has some limited use in the US, most commonly in measuring the
displacement of ships, and was the unit prescribed for warships (e.g.,
battleships limited to 35,000 tons) in the international agreements
between the World Wars.

The standard ton in the U.S. measurement system is the "short ton", equal
to 2000 pounds (exactly 907.18474 kg). Both long and short tons are
defined as 20 hundredweights, but a hundredweight is 112 pounds (which is
equal to 8 stone) in the Imperial system (long or gross hundredweight)
and 100 pounds in the US system (short or net hundredweight).

The spelling "tonne" denotes the metric tonne of 1000 kilograms
(approximately 2204.623 pounds).

A long ton-force is 2,240 pounds-force (9,964 newtons).

Kevin Redden wrote:

    -----Original Message-----
    A "TON" is defined as 100 cubic feet and in maritime circles is the long
    ton, not the more common short ton of 2000 lbs. The long ton is 2240
    pounds. Long tons are used in maritime because that is the weight of 100
    cubic feet of sea water(not fresh).

  Mike,
  
  While your measure for a long ton was correct, the rest of the statement above
  was a bit off. In the same paragraph you were mixing the measurment of volume
  (i.e., gross tons and net tons), and measurements of weights (i.e., long tons
  and short tons). This is akin to mixing apples and oranges!   :-)
  
  2,240 pounds is not the weight of 100 cubic feet of sea water at all. Since sea
  water is 64.1 lbs/cubic foot, 100 cubic feet of sea water would weight 6,410
  lbs, not the 2,240 lbs. that you had thought.
  
  Kevin
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