Tonne

Origin and spelling

In English, tonne is an established spelling alternative to metric ton. In American English and British English, tonne is usually pronounced the same as ton (), but the final "e" can also be pronounced, i.e. "tunnie" (). In Australian English, the common and recommended pronunciation is . In the United States, metric ton is the name for this unit used and recommended by NIST; an unqualified mention of a ton typically refers to a short ton of 2000 lb (907.2 kg) and to a lesser extent to a long ton of 2240 lb (1016 kg), with the term tonne rarely used in speech or writing. Both terms are acceptable in Canadian English.

Ton and tonne are both derived from a Germanic word in general use in the North Sea area since the Middle Ages (cf. Old English and Old Frisian tunne, Old High German and Medieval Latin tunna, German and French tonne) to designate a large cask, or tun. A full tun, standing about a metre high, could easily weigh a tonne. See also the common German word Mülltonne (lit. 'garbage drum').

The spelling tonne pre-dates the introduction of the SI in 1960; it has been used with this meaning in France since 1842, when there were no metric prefixes for multiples of 10⁶ and above, and is now used as the standard spelling for the metric mass measurement in most English-speaking countries. In the United States, the unit was originally referred to using the French words millier or tonneau, but these terms are now obsolete. The British imperial and United States customary units are comparable to the tonne and the spelling of ton in English is the same, though they differ in mass.

French pre-metric tonne

Prior to metrification the French tonne consisted of 2000 French pounds (livres). Therefore a French tonne of that era weighed 979 kg compared to an English ton of 1016 kg. Prior to the use of tonne for this weight tonneau (plural: tonneaux) was used.

Conversions

One tonne is equivalent to:

• 1000 kilograms (kg) by definition.
• 1000000 grams (g) or 1 megagram (Mg). Megagram is the corresponding official SI unit with the same mass; it is rarely used, in part because the base SI unit of mass is the kilogram, not the gram. Mg is distinct from mg, milligram.
• ⁠1000/0.45359237⁠ pounds (lb), by definition of the pound, or approximately 2204.622622 lb.
• ⁠1/0.907 184 74⁠ short tons (tn), exactly, or approximately 1.102311311 tn.
  • One short ton is exactly 0.90718474 t.
• ⁠1/1.0160469088⁠ long tons (LT), exactly, or approximately 0.9842065276 LT.
  • One long ton is exactly 1.0160469088 t.

A tonne is the mass of one cubic metre of pure water at 4 °C (39 °F).

Derived units

As a non-SI unit, the use of SI metric prefixes with the tonne does not fall within the SI standard. For multiples of the tonne, it is more usual to speak of thousands or millions of tonnes. Kilotonne, megatonne, and gigatonne are more usually used for the energy of nuclear explosions and other events in equivalent mass of TNT, often loosely as approximate figures. When used in this context, there is little need to distinguish between metric and other tons, and the unit is spelled either as ton or tonne with the relevant prefix attached.

Alternative usages

Metric ton units

A metric ton unit (mtu) can mean 10 kg (22 lb) within metal trading, particularly within the United States. It traditionally referred to a metric ton of ore containing 1% (i.e. 10 kg) of metal. The following excerpt from a mining geology textbook describes its usage in the particular case of tungsten:

Tungsten concentrates are usually traded in metric tonne units (originally designating one tonne of ore containing 1% of WO₃, today used to measure WO₃ quantities in 10 kg units. One metric tonne unit (mtu) of tungsten (VI) contains 7.93 kilograms of tungsten.

— Walter L Pohl, Economic Geology: Principles and Practices, English edition, 2011, p. 183.

In the case of uranium, MTU is sometimes used in the sense of metric ton of uranium (1000 kg [2200 lb]).

Use of mass as proxy for energy

The tonne of trinitrotoluene (TNT) is used as a proxy for energy, usually of explosions (TNT is a common high explosive). Prefixes are used: kiloton(ne), megaton(ne), gigaton(ne), especially for expressing nuclear weapon yield, based on a specific combustion energy of TNT of about 4.2 MJ/kg (or one thermochemical calorie per milligram). Hence, 1 t TNT = approx. 4.2 GJ, 1 kt TNT = approx. 4.2 TJ, 1 Mt TNT = approx. 4.2 PJ.

The SI unit of energy is the joule. One tonne of TNT is approximately equivalent to 4.2 gigajoules.

In the petroleum industry, the tonne of oil equivalent (toe) is a unit of energy: the amount of energy released by burning one tonne of crude oil, approximately 42 GJ. There are several slightly different definitions. This is ten times as much as a tonne of TNT because atmospheric oxygen is used.

Unit of force

Like the gram and the kilogram, the tonne gave rise to a (now obsolete) force unit of the same name, the tonne-force, equivalent to about 9.8 kilonewtons. The unit is also often called simply "tonne" or "metric ton" without identifying it as a unit of force.