• Golden Lox@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      15
      ·
      24 days ago

      what is typically called a ‘calorie’ is actually 1000 of the real unit.

      the real size of a calorie is too small to used effectively, but saying ‘kilocalorie’ is too long or smth idk.

      people just need to use kilojoules and fuck Imperial off.

      • JackbyDev
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        2
        arrow-down
        3
        ·
        23 days ago

        Wrong, a Calorie is 1000 calories. Virtually nobody uses calories though so don’t worry about it too much.

          • JackbyDev
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            1
            arrow-down
            4
            ·
            23 days ago

            Exactly. They use a unit representing 1000 calories. They don’t use calories. In the US we use “Calories” which are 1000 calories. Lowercase c calories are just too small of a unit to be useful and virtually nobody uses them.

            • Zwiebel@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              English
              arrow-up
              1
              arrow-down
              1
              ·
              edit-2
              19 days ago

              You misunderstand metric prefixes. kcal is not a separate unit from cal, it is the same unit with a prefix slapped infront

              1000 cal = 1k cal = 1 kcal

              The equal sign here is not a unit conversion

              • JackbyDev
                link
                fedilink
                English
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                19 days ago

                I’m not misunderstanding metric prefixes, you’re misunderstanding my point. When I say “Nobody uses calories” I mean “People don’t use the unit calories”. The way you don’t use millimeters when describing someone’s height. Or light-years. Yes, it’s just a simple conversion, but nobody uses it. America uses “Calories” with an uppercase C which is 1000 calories. Other countries use kilocalories which is also 1000 calories.

                The thing is that most people don’t know Calories and calories are different so generally speaking if someone says calories they mean Calories.