HOME

TheInfoList



Click Here for Items Related To - Gram (unit)
OR:
Gram (unit) on:   [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Amazon]

The gram (originally gramme; SI unit symbol g) is a unit of
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
in the
International System of Units The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official s ...
(SI) equal to one thousandth of a
kilogram The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...
. Originally defined in 1795 as "the absolute
weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...
of a
volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...
of pure
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a
metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
cm3], and at Melting point of water">the temperature of Melting point">melting Melting, or fusion, is a physical process that results in the phase transition of a substance from a solid to a liquid. This occurs when the internal energy of the solid increases, typically by the application of heat or pressure, which inc ...
ice", the defining temperature (0 °C) was later changed to the temperature of maximum density of water (approximately 4 °C). Subsequent redefinitions agree with this original definition to within 30
parts per million In science and engineering, the parts-per notation is a set of pseudo-units to describe the small values of miscellaneous dimensionless quantity, dimensionless quantities, e.g. mole fraction or mass fraction (chemistry), mass fraction. Since t ...
(0.003%), with the maximum
density of water Water () is a polar inorganic compound that is at room temperature a tasteless and odorless liquid, which is nearly colorless apart from an inherent hint of blue. It is by far the most studied chemical compound and is described as the "univ ...
remaining very close to 1 g/cm3, as shown by modern measurements. By the late 19th century, there was an effort to make the base unit the
kilogram The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...
and the gram a derived unit. In 1960, the new
International System of Units The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official s ...
defined a ''gram'' as one thousandth of a kilogram (i.e., one gram is ). The kilogram, as of 2019, is defined by the
International Bureau of Weights and Measures The International Bureau of Weights and Measures (, BIPM) is an List of intergovernmental organizations, intergovernmental organisation, through which its 64 member-states act on measurement standards in areas including chemistry, ionising radi ...
from the metre, the second, and from the fixed numerical value of the
Planck constant The Planck constant, or Planck's constant, denoted by h, is a fundamental physical constant of foundational importance in quantum mechanics: a photon's energy is equal to its frequency multiplied by the Planck constant, and the wavelength of a ...
().


Official SI symbol

The only unit symbol for gram that is recognised by the
International System of Units The International System of Units, internationally known by the abbreviation SI (from French ), is the modern form of the metric system and the world's most widely used system of measurement. It is the only system of measurement with official s ...
(SI) is "g" following the numeric value with a space, as in "640 g" to stand for "640 grams" in the English language. The SI disallows use of abbreviations such as "gr" (which is the symbol for
grains A grain is a small, hard, dry fruit ( caryopsis) – with or without an attached hull layer – harvested for human or animal consumption. A grain crop is a grain-producing plant. The two main types of commercial grain crops are cereals and le ...
),National Institute of Standards and Technology (October 2011). Butcher, Tina; Cook, Steve; Crown, Linda et al. eds
"Appendix C – General Tables of Units of Measurement"
(PDF)
''Specifications, Tolerances, and Other Technical Requirements for Weighing and Measuring Devices''
. NIST Handbook. 44 (2012 ed.). Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Commerce, Technology Administration, National Institute of Standards and Technology.
ISSN An International Standard Serial Number (ISSN) is an eight-digit to uniquely identify a periodical publication (periodical), such as a magazine. The ISSN is especially helpful in distinguishing between serials with the same title. ISSNs a ...
br>0271-4027
.
OCLC OCLC, Inc. See also: is an American nonprofit cooperative organization "that provides shared technology services, original research, and community programs for its membership and the library community at large". It was founded in 1967 as the ...
. Retrieved 30 June 2012. "gm" ("g⋅m" is the SI symbol for gram-
metre The metre (or meter in US spelling; symbol: m) is the base unit of length in the International System of Units (SI). Since 2019, the metre has been defined as the length of the path travelled by light in vacuum during a time interval of of ...
) or "Gm" (the SI symbol for
giga Giga- ( or ) is a metric prefix, unit prefix in the metric system denoting a factor of a Long and short scales, short-scale billion or long-scale milliard (109 or 1,000,000,000). It has the symbol G. ''Giga-'' is derived from the Ancient Greek, ...
metre).


History

The word ''gramme'' was adopted by the French
National Convention The National Convention () was the constituent assembly of the Kingdom of France for one day and the French First Republic for its first three years during the French Revolution, following the two-year National Constituent Assembly and the ...
in its 1795 decree revising the
metric system The metric system is a system of measurement that standardization, standardizes a set of base units and a nomenclature for describing relatively large and small quantities via decimal-based multiplicative unit prefixes. Though the rules gover ...
as replacing the ''gravet'' (introduced in 1793 simultaneously with a base measure called ''grave'', of which ''gravet'' was a subdivision). Its definition remained that of the
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
(then called
weight In science and engineering, the weight of an object is a quantity associated with the gravitational force exerted on the object by other objects in its environment, although there is some variation and debate as to the exact definition. Some sta ...
) of a
cubic centimetre A cubic centimetre (or cubic centimeter in US English) (SI unit symbol: cm3; non-SI abbreviations: cc and ccm) is a commonly used unit of volume that corresponds to the volume of a cube that measures 1 cm × 1 cm × 1 cm. One ...
of
water Water is an inorganic compound with the chemical formula . It is a transparent, tasteless, odorless, and Color of water, nearly colorless chemical substance. It is the main constituent of Earth's hydrosphere and the fluids of all known liv ...
. French ''gramme'' was taken from the
Late Latin Late Latin is the scholarly name for the form of Literary Latin of late antiquity.Roberts (1996), p. 537. English dictionary definitions of Late Latin date this period from the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, and continuing into the 7th century in ...
term '. This word—ultimately from Greek (''grámma''), "letter"—had adopted a specialised meaning in
Late Antiquity Late antiquity marks the period that comes after the end of classical antiquity and stretches into the onset of the Early Middle Ages. Late antiquity as a period was popularized by Peter Brown (historian), Peter Brown in 1971, and this periodiza ...
of "one twenty-fourth part of an ounce" (two
oboli The obol (, ''obolos'', also wikt:ὀβελός, ὀβελός (''obelós''), wikt:ὀβελός, ὀβελλός (''obellós''), wikt:ὀβελός, ὀδελός (''odelós'').  "nail, metal spit"; ) was a form of ancient Greek currency ...
), corresponding to about 1.14 modern grams. This use of the term is found in the ''carmen de ponderibus et mensuris'' ("poem about weights and measures") composed around 400 AD. There is also evidence that the Greek was used in the same sense at around the same time, in the 4th century, and survived in this sense into
Medieval Greek Medieval Greek (also known as Middle Greek, Byzantine Greek, or Romaic; Greek: ) is the stage of the Greek language between the end of classical antiquity in the 5th–6th centuries and the end of the Middle Ages, conventionally dated to the ...
, while the Latin term died out in
Medieval Latin Medieval Latin was the form of Literary Latin used in Roman Catholic Church, Roman Catholic Western Europe during the Middle Ages. It was also the administrative language in the former Western Roman Empire, Roman Provinces of Mauretania, Numidi ...
and was recovered in
Renaissance The Renaissance ( , ) is a Periodization, period of history and a European cultural movement covering the 15th and 16th centuries. It marked the transition from the Middle Ages to modernity and was characterized by an effort to revive and sur ...
scholarship. The gram was the base unit of mass in the 19th-century
centimetre–gram–second system of units The centimetre–gram–second system of units (CGS or cgs) is a variant of the metric system based on the centimetre as the unit of length, the gram as the unit of mass, and the second as the unit of time. All CGS mechanical units are unamb ...
(CGS). The CGS system coexisted with the metre–kilogram–second system of units (MKS), first proposed in 1901, during much of the 20th century, but the gram was displaced by the
kilogram The kilogram (also spelled kilogramme) is the base unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI), equal to one thousand grams. It has the unit symbol kg. The word "kilogram" is formed from the combination of the metric prefix kilo- (m ...
as the base unit for mass when the MKS system was chosen for the
SI base units The SI base units are the standard units of measurement defined by the International System of Units (SI) for the seven base quantities of what is now known as the International System of Quantities: they are notably a basic set from which all ...
in 1960.


Uses

The gram is the most widely used unit of measurement for non-liquid ingredients in cooking and grocery shopping worldwide. Liquid ingredients are often measured by
volume Volume is a measure of regions in three-dimensional space. It is often quantified numerically using SI derived units (such as the cubic metre and litre) or by various imperial or US customary units (such as the gallon, quart, cubic inch) ...
rather than
mass Mass is an Intrinsic and extrinsic properties, intrinsic property of a physical body, body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the physical quantity, quantity of matter in a body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physi ...
. Many standards and legal requirements for nutrition labels on food products require relative contents to be stated per 100 g of the product, such that the resulting figure can also be read as a percentage by mass.


Conversion factors

* 1 gram (g) ≈ (gr) * 1 grain (gr) ≈ * 1 avoirdupois ounce (oz) ≈ * 1 troy ounce (ozt) = 31.1034768 g (exact, by definition) * 100 grams (g) ≈ (oz) * 1 carat (ct) = 0.2 grams * 1 gamma (γ) = 10−6 grams * 1 undecimogramme = 1 "eleventh-gram" = 10−11 grams in the historical quadrant–eleventh-gram–second system (
QES The history of the metric system began during the Age of Enlightenment with measures of length and weight derived from Natural environment, nature, along with their decimal multiples and fractions. The system became the standard of France and E ...
system) a.k.a. hebdometre–undecimogramme–second system (HUS system) * 500 grams (g) = 1 jin in the
Chinese units of measurement Chinese units of measurement, known in Chinese as the ''shìzhì'' ("market system"), are the traditional units of measurement of the Han Chinese. Although Chinese numerals have been decimal (base-10) since the Shang dynasty, Shang, several Chine ...
.


Comparisons

* 1 gram is roughly equal to the mass of 1 small paper clip or pen cap. * The Japanese 1 yen coin has a mass of 1 gram, lighter than the British penny (3.56 g), the United States penny (2.5 g), the Euro cent (2.30 g), and the Australian 5 cent coin (2.80 g).


See also

*
Conversion of units Conversion of units is the conversion of the unit of measurement in which a quantity is expressed, typically through a multiplicative conversion factor that changes the unit without changing the quantity. This is also often loosely taken to incl ...
* Duella * Gold gram * Orders of magnitude (mass)


Notes


References

{{Authority control Units of mass Centimetre–gram–second system of units