Density of seawater is commonly taken as 64 lb/ft³, so 35 ft³ is exactly 2240 lb (fresh water is commonly taken as 62.4 lb/ft³, the difference is important on the Great Lakes, and, I assume, in navigable rivers).
Perhaps more important, in the metric system article of the AP Stylebook, they only convert between metric and short tons, so that is all journalists know about. It's the Bible. ________________________________ From: James Frysinger <[email protected]> To: U.S. Metric Association <[email protected]> Sent: Mon, April 8, 2013 7:04:30 PM Subject: [USMA:52644] RE: Germany: Thieves swipe 5 tons of chocolate spread You are correct, Mark. The short ton (2000 lb) is the one meant by the simple name "ton" for most applications; the term "short ton" is hardly ever used except to distinguish it in discussions such as this. The long ton is used most notably in the maritime industry for vessel capacities ("tonnage"), loads, etc. There it is called just "ton" but elsewhere it is called "long ton". Actually, in maritime usage, a long ton is sometimes defined as the "weight" (mass) of 35 ft³ of water, as I recall. Note that a cubic meter is about 35.315 cubic feet. A cubic yard is 27 cubic feet. Jim -- James R. Frysinger 632 Stony Point Mountain Road Doyle, TN 38559-3030 (C) 931.212.0267 (H) 931.657.3107 (F) 931.657.3108 On 2013-04-08 17:21, Henschel Mark wrote: > We have both short tons and long tons. I think the short ton is 2,000 > pounds whereas the long ton is based on the hundredweight, which is 112 > pounds (sic). So a long ton in the USA could very well be 2240 pounds. > > Mark > > ----- Original Message ----- > From: Martin Vlietstra <[email protected]> > Date: Monday, April 8, 2013 4:48 pm > Subject: [USMA:52636] RE: Germany: Thieves swipe 5 tons of chocolate spread > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > > > > > But they got their conversion wrong – 1 tonne is 2209 lbs and an > ordinary ton is 2240 lbs (at least that is what I was taught in school > in South Africa), or is something different in the United States? ;-) > > Martin Vlietstra > > *From:*[email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] *On > Behalf Of *John M. Steele >>*Sent:* 08 April 2013 16:25 >>*To:* U.S. Metric Association >>*Subject:* [USMA:52629] Germany: Thieves swipe 5 tons of chocolate spread > > > > Amazingly, it is an AP article and they are metric tons. > > >http://news.yahoo.com/germany-thieves-swipe-5-tons-chocolate-spread-103316137.html >l > > > BERLIN (AP) — These thieves might really have sticky fingers. > > Police said Monday an unknown number of culprits made off with 5 metric > tons (5.5 tons) of Nutella chocolate-hazelnut spread from a parked > trailer in the central German town of Bad Hersfeld over the weekend. > > > >
