Metric Conversion

Convert Between Metric and English Units

Length Conversion

British and American length units include the foot, the yard (3 feet), the furlong (660 feet), the mile (5,280 feet), the league (15,840 feet), and the inch (1/12th foot).

See also Metric Distance Unit Conversions.

Area Conversion

The area unit commonly used in the USA is the acre (4840 square yards).  One square mile is equivalent to 640 acres.

See also Metric Area Unit Conversions.

Volume Conversion

Milliliters and Ounces

Liquid measure units commonly used in the USA include the fluid ounce, the pint (16 fluid ounces), the quart (32 fluid ounces), the gallon (128 fluid ounces), and the petroleum barrel (5376 fluid ounces).  A gallon is equivalent to 231 cubic inches.

See also Metric Volume Unit Conversions.

Weight Conversion

Avoirdupois weight units commonly used in the USA include the pound, the stone (14 pounds), the short hundredweight (100 pounds), the short ton (2,000 pounds), the ounce (1/16th pound), the dram (1/256th pound), and the grain (1/7000th pound).

Metric "weight" units are, more correctly, known as "mass" units.  See also Metric Mass Unit Conversions.

Pressure Conversion

The pressure units commonly used in the USA include the inch of mercury and the atmosphere (29.92 inches of mercury).  One atmosphere is equivalent to 14.7 pounds per square inch.

See also Metric Pressure Unit Conversions.

Energy Conversion

The energy units commonly used in the USA include the calorie and the British Thermal Unit (BTU).  A calorie is commonly defined as the amount of heat energy required to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius.  However, the energy needed for this task depends on the water's starting temperature.  The thermochemical calorie is defined as exactly 4.184 joules, but several other, slightly different definitions exist as well.  One calorie is equivalent to 3.088 foot-pounds; one BTU is equivalent to 252 calories.  Using this latter definition, one calorie is equal to 4.187 joules.

See also Metric Energy Unit Conversions.

Temperature Conversion

The temperature unit commonly used in the USA is Fahrenheit.  At sea level, the freezing temperature of water is 32 degrees Fahrenheit and the boiling point of water is 212 degrees Fahrenheit.

See also Metric Temperature Unit Conversions.

Other Metric Conversion Sites

• NIST Metric Information and Conversions
  Find a wealth of educational and reference resources about the metric system and its implementation, as well as metric conversion tables and calculators.
• United States Metric Association
  Founded in 1916, this national non-profit organization advocates completing the US conversion to the International System of Units, known by the abbreviation SI and also called the metric system.  The process of changing measurement units to the metric system is called metric transition or metrication.
• The United States and the Metric System
  The United States is now the only industrialized country in the world that does not use the metric system as its primary system of measurement.  Learn the history of the metric system and how the United States has been involved with this system since the early 19th century.  Credit:  This document—NIST LC 1136—was published in May, 1992 by the National Institute of Standards and Technology.

Metric Conversion Table - Metric Conversions