Different weight Units

G&G GmbH
2021-04-30 10:37:00 / / Comments 0

As a technically correct term, it is actually wrong to say: How heavy is this weight.
Rather, it has to bean: How strong is the force by which the earth's gravity is pushing down the mass on top of the scale.

But: The technical expression is irrelevant for the user, because a digital scale automatically converts the determined weight into an understandable unit. The basic unit for us in Europe is the gram. In order to be able to represent very heavy and very light weights in an understandable way, in addition to the gram, units such as kilograms, tons or milligrams are used, which are converted accordingly:

1 ton (t) = 1000 kilograms (kg)
1 kilogram (kg) = 1000 grams (g)
1 milligram (mg) = 0.001 grams (g)


However, in other parts of the world or in special areas of application, other units have developed and have remained so to this day, which can be converted from the respective weight. Many digital scales do this automatically and show you a different unit of weight instead of grams. When you buy your scale, please make sure that the unit (kilo-) gram is sufficient for your application or whether you need one or more additional units:


Metric carat (ct or Kt), unit of measurement for the mass of gemstones (please note the troy ounce at this point when it comes to the connection between carat and gold):

1 g = 5 ct 1 ct = 0.2 g

Pennyweight (dwt), an Anglo-American unit of measurement:
1 g = 0.643 dwt 1 dwt = 1.555 g

Pound in Europe:

An obsolete unit in Europe that is colloquially equated with "half a kilo", for example in the case of food. However, it does not appear in official and academic linguistic usage and may not be used in business or official communication. Nevertheless, everyone understands what is meant when you order "a pound" at the counter, but the purchase is always billed as 500g.

Pounds in the US (lb, in the plural lbs):

Is used in the Anglo-American system of measurement like the kilogram in our country. Not allowed in Germany.
1 kg = 2, 204 lbs 1 lb = 0, 453 kg

Gran or Grain (gr, or gn to avoid confusion with grams):

The smallest unit of mass from the Anglo-American measurement system. Used by shooters in Europe, for example to determine arrowheads, ammunition and the mass of propellant powder.

1g = 15.432 gr 1 gr = 0.0647 g


Ounce (oz), used for food in some countries:
1g = 0.0352 oz 1 oz = 28.35 g

Troy ounce or pharmacist ounce (ozt or oz.tr.) as a unit of measurement for precious metals:
A note if you want to weigh your jewelry etc. with the scales: Please note that only the weight of the precious metal is taken into account and any contamination must be deducted.
If, for example, a piece of gold is offered with 1 ozt and weighed on the scales, it may be that the scale shows more, but the piece of gold contains exactly 1 ozt of gold. If it shows exactly 1ozt, it is not necessarily a forgery, but it may be that you have gold in extreme purity in front of you, for example fine gold with a weight percentage of 99.999% gold. In order to be able to determine the exact value of a coin with a weight of one troy ounce, it is important to know not only the weight, but also the purity of the gold.

1 g = 0.0321 ozt 1 ozt = 31.103 g


Note: We keep receiving complaints from customers who e.g. weigh a ring with e.g. 24 carat, but the scale in the unit ct only shows 15 ct.

The purity of gold is also named "carat", but this has nothing to do with with the metric carat as a unit of weight. Carat as a fineness is based on a classification from 0 - 24.
24 carat denotes the maximum possible purity in production (pure gold, 99.999%), 1/24 carat or 1 carat means: It contains "one twenty-fourth" of the weight, i.e. 4.166% gold. 8 carat red gold is 33% gold by weight.
The specification "24 carat" does not say anything about how heavy the object is, but refers purely to the composition of the metal. It is not possible to determine the gold content of a coin with a balance, here you need special test acids.