Ounce to Imperial ton (long ton)
oz
ton
Conversion History
| Conversion | Reuse | Delete |
|---|---|---|
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Quick Reference Table (Ounce to Imperial ton (long ton))
| Ounce (oz) | Imperial ton (long ton) (ton) |
|---|---|
| 0.5 | 0.00001395089285714286 |
| 1 | 0.00002790178571428571 |
| 2 | 0.00005580357142857143 |
| 4 | 0.00011160714285714286 |
| 8 | 0.00022321428571428571 |
| 16 | 0.00044642857142857143 |
| 32 | 0.00089285714285714286 |
About Ounce (oz)
The avoirdupois ounce (oz) is 1/16 of a pound, equal to approximately 28.35 grams. It is the standard unit for food portions, postal weights, and everyday goods in the United States and, to a declining degree, the United Kingdom. The ounce should not be confused with the fluid ounce (a volume unit) or the troy ounce (31.1 g, used for precious metals). In cooking, most American recipes use ounces for dry ingredients; UK recipes have largely switched to grams. Postal systems in the US still price letters by the ounce.
A standard letter envelope weighs about 0.2 oz. A slice of cheese is roughly 1 oz. A baseball weighs 5–5.25 oz.
Etymology: From the Latin "uncia" (one twelfth), the twelfth of a Roman pound. The avoirdupois ounce (1/16 lb) diverged from the troy ounce (used for metals) in medieval England.
About Imperial ton (long ton) (ton)
The imperial ton, also called the long ton, is a unit of mass equal to 2,240 pounds (approximately 1,016 kg). It was the standard large-mass unit in the British Empire for bulk goods such as coal, grain, and shipping capacity. The long ton is still used in some UK industries (particularly shipping tonnage and historical contexts) but has largely been replaced by the metric tonne (1,000 kg) for commercial and scientific purposes. The difference between the long ton (1,016 kg), metric tonne (1,000 kg), and US short ton (907 kg) is roughly 10–12%, which matters in trade and engineering calculations.
A double-decker bus weighs about 8 long tons. A coal wagon in Victorian railways held about 10 long tons.
Ounce – Frequently Asked Questions
How many ounces are in a pound?
There are exactly 16 ounces (oz) in one avoirdupois pound (lb). This is the standard US and UK system for everyday weights. Note that the troy pound (used for precious metals) contains 12 troy ounces — a different and less common system.
What is the difference between an ounce and a fluid ounce?
An ounce (oz) is a unit of weight (mass); a fluid ounce (fl oz) is a unit of volume. For water at room temperature they happen to be close (1 fl oz of water ≈ 1.04 oz by weight), but for other liquids (oil, honey, milk) the values diverge. Recipes that say "8 oz of flour" mean weight; "8 fl oz of milk" mean volume.
What is a troy ounce?
A troy ounce is 31.1035 grams — heavier than the avoirdupois ounce (28.35 g). Troy ounces are used exclusively for precious metals (gold, silver, platinum, palladium). When gold prices are quoted per ounce, they always mean troy ounces.
Why do US recipes use ounces for solids when the rest of the world uses grams?
American home cooking developed around volume measures (cups, tablespoons) and weight in ounces because kitchen scales were uncommon in US households until recently. The rest of the world adopted metric kitchen scales as part of broader metrication. Ounces persist in US recipes partly because American measuring cup sets are ubiquitous and cheap, and partly because US food packaging lists serving sizes in ounces. Professional American bakeries increasingly use grams for precision, but consumer recipes lag behind because publishers fear alienating home cooks who do not own a scale.
Does the UK still use ounces?
Officially the UK moved to metric in the 1970s–1990s, but ounces persist in informal use, especially in older recipes, market stalls, and body weight conversations. UK supermarkets label food in grams and kilograms; loose goods at markets are increasingly metric. The ounce is no longer a legal unit of trade in the UK for pre-packaged goods.
Imperial ton (long ton) – Frequently Asked Questions
What was the heaviest single object ever weighed?
The revolving service structure at NASA's Kennedy Space Center Launch Complex 39B weighed approximately 2,423 long tons (2,462 metric tonnes) when it was moved on its rail system. In construction, the Troll A offshore gas platform (North Sea) had a concrete substructure weighing about 656,000 tonnes — the heaviest object ever moved by humanity. For natural objects, the heaviest single organism is the Pando aspen grove in Utah at an estimated 6,000 tonnes, though it is debatable whether a clonal colony counts as one "object."
Is the long ton still used?
The long ton persists in some specialist UK contexts — notably maritime shipping displacement (warship displacement is often quoted in long tons), some historical industrial records, and a few US sectors such as ferrous scrap metal trading. For most purposes, the metric tonne has replaced it in the UK.
How does the long ton compare to the metric tonne?
A long ton is 1,016.05 kg, which is about 1.6% heavier than a metric tonne (1,000 kg). For rough mental conversion, they are close enough that long ton ≈ metric tonne — but in bulk commodity contracts, the 16 kg difference per tonne adds up significantly at large volumes.
Why does the UK use a different ton than the US?
Both derived from the historical English ton of 2,240 lbs (based on 20 hundredweight of 112 lbs each). The US customary system later redefined the hundredweight as 100 lbs, producing a short ton of 2,000 lbs, while the UK retained the 112-lb hundredweight and the 2,240-lb long ton.
What is a deadweight ton?
Deadweight tonnage (DWT) is a shipping measure of how much weight a vessel can carry — cargo, fuel, crew, provisions, and water — expressed in metric tonnes or long tons depending on convention. A Panamax cargo ship typically has a deadweight of 50,000–80,000 metric tonnes. DWT is distinct from displacement tonnage (the weight of water displaced by the ship itself).