# 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:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![BwanaBob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bwanabob/32/2985_2.png) [@BwanaBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BwanaBob)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/41 "2011-10-14T12:44:58Z")
> [@Ximenean](#): > > …Likewise, “hecto-” is virtually unknown except for the unit of land area, the hectare. My grandfather worked for a German wine company and they used hectoliters. He showed me these rather large hectoliter glass jugs (I hesitate to call them bottles). ---
**Author:** ![ducati](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/cc9497/32.png) [@ducati](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ducati)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/42 "2011-10-14T13:21:58Z")
It’s really simple, Leo. See that packet of Sweet-n-Low on the table? It’s 1 gram. I suspect that 1cc of gold weighs more than 1cc of most things, so I wouldn’t go by volume. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/43 "2011-10-14T13:52:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > One I’ve heard is that a raisin weighs approximately one gram. Cookbook author Peg Bracken came up with this idea, after weighing several items. ---
**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, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/44 "2011-10-14T15:58:47Z")
> [@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. Hence the version I heard while growing up (in the UK) - “A pint of pure water’s a pound and a quarter”. (Of course, this rhyme is doubly useless in America because as well as short-changing us with your piddly little pints, you don’t even pronounce “water” to rhyme with “quarter” for the most part!) ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/45 "2011-10-14T16:48:55Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Despite the jokes, [this](http://xkcd.com/526/) xkcd actually gives a pretty good rough reference chart for metric. Hey, that’s pretty neat. Is there something similar for U.S. units? ---
**Author:** ![KarlGauss](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/karlgauss/32/3713_2.png) [@KarlGauss](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KarlGauss)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/46 "2011-10-14T17:52:44Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Despite the jokes, [this](http://xkcd.com/526/) xkcd actually gives a pretty good rough reference chart for metric. It’s not too bad but contains an error for 14 cm. I’m pretty sure the exemplar shown there for 14 cm is a typo and really should be for 14 _inches_. At least in my experience. ---
**Author:** ![nolonger\_lurking](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/41988e/32.png) [@nolonger\_lurking](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nolonger_lurking)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2011, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/47 "2011-10-14T18:33:56Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > The prefixes that end with I are divisions. N.B. This breaks down past milli. Edit: after glancing at the wiki, am I the only person who thinks it is a bad idea for the prefixes (zetta, yotta) to be so similar to (zepto, yocto)? I guess it should be _really_ obvious in context, but still… ---
**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, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/48 "2011-10-14T21:31:35Z")
> [@Jragon](#): > > Despite the jokes, [this](http://xkcd.com/526/) xkcd actually gives a pretty good rough reference chart for metric. That is generally an excellent chart–except I don’t understand "2Liter Bottle=3Liter. The temperature thing got me interested (although not directly useful in cooking): I remember in my body (in Farenheit) exactly the temperature outside on the morning of 9/11/01, and the temperature of a heat wave in the Negev desert – which xkcd basically nails. ---
**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, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-could-i-use-as-a-quick-way-by-approximate-physical-memory-to-estimate-a-gram-cgram-etc/599576/49 "2011-10-14T21:51:40Z")
> [@Jamicat](#): > > I wonder why some despot in the cracker making profession hasn’t come up with the…quintessential… > > GRAM CRACKER! > > :dubious: Actually, they have. The classic small hexagonal-type-thingy [oyster cracker IS just about one gram](http://www.fatsecret.com/calories-nutrition/generic/crackers-oyster). 🙂 [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=2)