US (Imperial) and Metric Weights and Measures Compared

(Slow Connections and Printer Version)

Fast Connections Full Page

Length	inches to millimeters and inches to centimeters feet to meters and yards to meters miles to kilometers
Volume	fluid ounces to milliliters, cups to liters and gallons to liters
Weight	ounces to grams and pounds to kilograms
Temperature	Fahrenheit to Celsius

The Metric System

The length of the basic unit, the meter, was kind-of arbitrarily chosen, (one ten-thousandth of a quarter of the Paris meridian) - but all other units of the metric system of weights and measures flow from that meter in decimal fashion, multiples of ten or reductions to one-tenth.

The centimeter is 1/100th of a meter
The liter is the volume of a 10x10x10cm cube (1000cm³)
The gram is the weight of one cubic centimeter (1cm³) of water (at 4°C and 1 atmosphere air pressure)
The kilogram (or kilo) is the weight of 1 liter (1000cm³) of water (at 4°C and 1 atmosphere air pressure)

length		volume		weight
millimeter (mm)	1mm = 0.001m			milligram (mg)	1mg = 0.001g
centimeter (cm)	1cm = 0.01m	milliliter (ml)	1ml = 1cm³ = 0.001L	gram (g)	1g = weight of 1cm³ water
decimeter (dm)	1dm = 10cm = 0.1m	liter (L)	1L = 1dm³ = 1000cm³ (10x10x10cm)
meter (m)	1m
kilometer (km)	1km = 1000m			kilogram (kg)	1 kg = 1000g = weight of 1L water

Hear Dutch

meter
centimeter
millimeter
kilometer
decimeter
hear

(~ 1 yard)
(~ 4/10 inch)
(~ 1/25 inch)
(~ 6/10 mile)
(~ 4 inches)

kilo,
kilogram
gram
pond
ons
hear

(~ 2 Lb)
(~ 2 Lb)
(~ 1/25 oz.)
(~ 1 Lb)
(~ 3 oz)

'Pond' (½ kilogram, 500 gram) and 'ons' (100 gram) are often used in Dutch shops, but are not official weights.

liter
milliliter
cc
kubieke centimeter (cm³)
hear

(~ 4 cups)
(~ 1/25 fl. oz.)
(~ 1/25 fl. oz.)
(~ 1/25 fl. oz.)

temperatuur
graden
Celsius
koorts
hear

(temperature)
(degrees)
(Celsius)
(fever)

lengte
hoogte
breedte
diepte
hear

(length)
(height)
(width)
(depth)

afstand
oppervlakte
inhoud
gewicht
hear

(distance)
(surface area)
(volume)
(weight)

Numbers in Dutch - Science
Dutch Words and Phrases for Travelers - Everyday Dutch for Basic Conversation and Reading

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