Gram
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The gram (alternative British English spelling: gramme;[1] SI unit symbol: g) (Greek/Latin root grámma) is a metric system unit of mass.
Originally defined as "the absolute weight of a volume of pure water equal to the cube of the hundredth part of a metre, and at the temperature of melting ice"[2] (later 4 °C), a gram is now defined as one one-thousandth of the SI base unit, the kilogram, or 1×10−3 kg, which itself is defined as being equal to the mass of a physical prototype preserved by the International Bureau of Weights and Measures.
Symbol and abbreviations
The International System of Units (SI) unit symbol for the gram is "g" following the numeric value with a space, as in "640 g". In some fields and regions, the SI symbols for units are used quite strictly, in particular in technical and scientific publications and in legally regulated product labels. In other contexts, a wide range of other abbreviations have been encountered, such as "gr", "gm",[3] "grm", "gms" and "grms".[citation needed] The use of abbreviations such as "gm", "Gm", or "GM" for grams could potentially lead to serious errors in healthcare settings where accidentally transposing "gm" to "mg" (milligrams) would result in a 1000 times dosage difference. It would therefore be prudent to use "g" as the symbol for grams in any healthcare setting.
History
It was the base unit of mass in the original French metric system and the later centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system of units. The word originates from Late Latin gramma – a small weight.
Uses
The gram is today the most widely used unit of measurement for non-liquid ingredients in cooking and grocery shopping worldwide. For food products that are typically sold in quantities far less than 1 kg, the unit price is normally given per 100 g.
Most 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.
Conversion factors
- 1 gram (g) = 15.4323583529 grains (gr)
- 1 grain (gr) = 0.06479891 grams (g)
- 1 avoirdupois ounce (oz) = 28.349523125 grams (g)
- 1 troy ounce (ozt) = 31.1034768 grams (g)
- 1 gram (g) = 8.98755179×1013 joules (J) (by mass–energy equivalence)
Comparisons
- 1 gram is roughly equal to 1 small paper clip or pen cap.
References
- ^ "Weights and Measures Act 1985 (c. 72)". The UK Statute Law Database. Office of Public Sector Information. Retrieved 2011-01-26.
§92.
- ^ Décret relatif aux poids et aux mesures, 1795
- ^ "gm". Oxford Dictionaries. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 19 November 2011.