# What could I use as a quick way--by approximate physical memory--to estimate a gram, cgram, etc.?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 13, 2011, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576 "2011-10-13T21:21:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/21 "2011-10-13T23:51:52Z")
A dollar bill is about one gram. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 13, 2011, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/22 "2011-10-13T23:56:21Z")
> [@lazybratsche](#): > > A penny weighs about two and a half grams. > > For everyday estimation purposes, 1 gram = 1 mL or 1 CC of water. 1 mL is about a fifth of a teaspoon. Of course, you don’t hold 1 gram of water in the palm of your hand… Thank you all for these quick and helpful replies. In cooking, I’ll often see something like “25 grams of butter.” So, five nickels, or just under 1/2 cup. Since, as I said in OP, I primarily use this to cook, I also use my mental visual image of the circular measuring spoons I have–gradated from 1/8 to 1 cup. Nickels screw that up, by and large, I guess. BTW, I had a boss who would count the day’s cash receipts that came in $1 bills by weighing them. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/23 "2011-10-14T00:39:41Z")
> [@Kimstu](#): > > …the old English-units jingle “A pint’s a pound the world around”. (Assuming measurement at sea level, of course.) This is so untrue, it’s dangerous. One US (fluid) pint of water weighs 1.04 pounds, true, but one Imperial pint of water weighs 1.25 pounds… and the Imperial pint was much more widely used. ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/24 "2011-10-14T00:56:58Z")
Thanks for the correction on the centigram. Honestly I grew up with metric and I never heard it. The only _centi-_ I’ve used is centimeters. > [@Ximenean](#): > > Likewise, “hecto-” is virtually unknown except for the unit of land area, the hectare. The weather reports in Japan use hectopascals for pressure. But that’s a holdover from when the millibar was the standard. (\*_bar_ is the cgs unit for pressure; the world has mostly converted to SI, and _pascal_ is the SI unit for pressure. But they use hectopascal because 1 hectopascal is equal to 1 millibar.) ---
**Author:** ![scr4](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/59ef9b/32.png) [@scr4](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scr4)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/25 "2011-10-14T01:08:29Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > In cooking, I’ll often see something like “25 grams of butter.” So, five nickels, or just under 1/2 cup. 25 grams of butter is more like 2 tablespoons or 1/8 cup. If it were water, 25 grams would be exactly 25 milliliters (25 cc), which is 1 tablespoon + 2 teaspoons (15cc +2 x 5cc). Butter is a little less dense though, and I don’t know the exact conversion. You should probably use a kitchen scale anyway, as it’s more accurate than trying to measure volume of something like butter. A further complication is that _cup_ isn’t the same everywhere. The US customary cup is 236.6 ml, while the US legal cup (for nutritional labels, etc) is 240 ml exactly. The Metric cup is 250ml, and the Japanese cup is 200ml. And I don’t think European cookbooks use cups at all. ---
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/26 "2011-10-14T01:23:39Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > 25 grams of butter is more like 2 tablespoons or 1/8 cup. If you see a recipe with 25 grams of whatever, dollars to donuts it’s been converted from 1 ounce. 1 ounce = 28.35 grams, but most recipes use 25g instead, for simplicity. The result is that you end up with about 12% less of the end product (most recipe books warn to use either grams or ounces, and not mix them in the same recipe, as the conversions are not exact). Of course, this might not help you much if you are used to recipes that use “cups” etc - something that mystifies Brits when they’re searching for recipes online (although I have now bought myself a set of US-style measuring cups). The simplest way to get a feel for grams is that an ounce is about 25 grams, a pound is just less than 500 grams (454g to be precise), and 1kg is a little more than 2lb. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/27 "2011-10-14T01:40:11Z")
A gramme is one millionth of a tonne. Simples! ---
**Author:** ![Jamicat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/c67d28/32.png) [@Jamicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jamicat)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/28 "2011-10-14T03:15:49Z")
I wonder why some despot in the cracker making profession hasn’t come up with the…quintessential… GRAM CRACKER! :dubious: ---
**Author:** ![Kimstu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ecd19e/32.png) [@Kimstu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimstu)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/29 "2011-10-14T03:25:18Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > This is so untrue, it’s dangerous. One US (fluid) pint of water weighs 1.04 pounds, true, but one Imperial pint of water weighs 1.25 pounds… and the Imperial pint was much more widely used. Well, I don’t think the jingle was meant to suggest to Americans that **any** volume measure that’s called a “pint” anywhere in the world weighs one pound. Even we hick Americans have generally heard of different kinds of pints. (For that matter, there are different weight measures called a “pound” too, such as the avoirdupois pound and the troy pound.) Rather, I think the jingle’s intended purpose—for which I, btw, have managed to successfully use it all over the world for decades without significant danger to myself or others—is simply to remind Americans “Hey, you know that amount of water we call a pint? And you know that amount of weight we call a pound? They represent approximately the same quantity of stuff. Here’s a little rhyme you can use to remember that.” ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/30 "2011-10-14T03:39:00Z")
Re butter and density, and container shape: I was going to ask this, but felt Archimedes himself calling me too stupid: If a two-liter bottle of pop is about two kilograms, and the recipe calls for one kilogram of chopped meat, I can’t just think of one of those bottles half-filled, right? Water is less dense… ---
**Author:** ![heathen\_earthling](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/13edae/32.png) [@heathen\_earthling](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heathen_earthling)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/31 "2011-10-14T04:10:06Z")
> [@Leo\_Bloom](#): > > Re butter and density, and container shape: I was going to ask this, but felt Archimedes himself calling me too stupid: > If a two-liter bottle of pop is about two kilograms, and the recipe calls for one kilogram of chopped meat, I can’t just think of one of those bottles half-filled, right? > > Water is less dense… The density of meat and water are similar enough for what you’re imagining. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/32 "2011-10-14T04:59:57Z")
I guess I won’t be cooking with Osmium (I looked that one up 🙂 ). ---
**Author:** ![Jragon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jragon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jragon)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/33 "2011-10-14T05:13:51Z")
Despite the jokes, [this](http://xkcd.com/526/) xkcd actually gives a pretty good rough reference chart for metric. ---
**Author:** ![horsetech](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/dec6dc/32.png) [@horsetech](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/horsetech)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/34 "2011-10-14T05:42:17Z")
> [@Martian Bigfoot](#): > > Not that I’m suggesting this as a practical solution, but… I had some brief experiences with certain psychoactive substances in my younger days, and while it didn’t do me much good overall, it did leave me with a useful mental image of a gram. [Relevant story from The Onion](http://www.theonion.com/articles/metric-system-thriving-in-nations-inner-cities,458/) ---
**Author:** ![psychonaut](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/psychonaut/32/4655_2.png) [@psychonaut](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/psychonaut)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 6:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/35 "2011-10-14T06:35:31Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > The gram is not the SI base unit of mass, which is instead the kilogram… > Likewise, “hecto-” is virtually unknown except for the unit of land area, the hectare. Ares (and hectares, etc.) are not part of the SI system. In SI area can be expressed only in derived units, such as m². ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/36 "2011-10-14T06:53:09Z")
One I’ve heard is that a raisin weighs approximately one gram. ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 7:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/37 "2011-10-14T07:23:59Z")
> [@scr4](#): > > Thanks for the correction on the centigram. Honestly I grew up with metric and I never heard it. The only _centi-_ I’ve used is centimeters. The prefixes that end with I are divisions. The others are multiples, so: Milli~ = one thousandth of the unit Centi~ = one hundredth of the unit Deci~ = one tenth of the unit Then: Deca~ = ten of the unit (the similarity of this and _Deci~_ always annoyed me) Hect(o)~ = one hundred of the unit Kilo~ = one thousand of the unit ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 7:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/38 "2011-10-14T07:26:34Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Ares (and hectares, etc.) are not part of the SI system. In SI area can be expressed only in derived units, such as m². I believe they were formulated so as to be not-too-hard substitutes for Acres. (1 hectare is about 2.5 acres) ---
**Author:** ![Mogle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mogle/32/12021_2.png) [@Mogle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mogle)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 8:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/39 "2011-10-14T08:19:25Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > 100 grams is a hectogram, rarely used term. That would depend on your location, e.g. in Sweden it’s a common term. ---
**Author:** ![Ximenean](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/aca169/32.png) [@Ximenean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ximenean)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 9:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/40 "2011-10-14T09:37:23Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Ares (and hectares, etc.) are not part of the SI system. In SI area can be expressed only in derived units, such as m². OK, but I didn’t say they were SI units. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576.md?page=3)