Comments on: Need math help

Question: Need math help

socrateaser — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:18:23 -0800

Is there a formula for converting cubic meters to tons? I missed this lesson in math class way back when and now I need to do these conversions for a project at work.

By: nebulawindphone

nebulawindphone — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:21:24 -0800

Cubic meters are volume. Tons are weight. You need to know how dense the stuff you're weighing is — how much a certain volume of it weighs.

By: EndsOfInvention

EndsOfInvention — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:23:32 -0800

d = density in tons per cubic meter
v = volume in cubic meters
w = weight in tons

w = v*d

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:33:12 -0800

Density of water is 1 metric ton per cubic meter. Density of Aluminum is 2.7 metric tons per cubic meter. Iron is 7.86 metric tons per cubic meter. Gold is 19.3 metric tons per cubic meter.

And hydrogen gas is 0.089 metric tons per cubic meter.

Gold is 216 times as dense as hydrogen. So it really does matter what that cubic meter contains.

By: Pinback

Pinback — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 16:39:41 -0800

That's for a metric ton, or tonne. An imperial ton, or long ton, is ~1016kg. A short ton, or net ton - the common useage in the US - is ~907kg.

Amusingly, a long ton and a short ton are 20 hundredweight. In the UK, a hundredweight is 112 pounds. In the US, a hundredweight is 100 pounds.

By: vacapinta

vacapinta — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:04:53 -0800

EndsofInvention's formula works regardless of how you define "ton" or "cubic meter"

By: Dataphage

Dataphage — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:10:23 -0800

You already have the formula, but for everyday calculations, my favorite tool is Google Calculator.

Typing density of Cesium into search box gives you: 1.93 gram per cubic centimeter.

Typing 2.5 cubic meter * 1.93 grams per cubic centimeter to metric tons gives: ((2.5 (cubic meter)) * 1.93 grams) per (cubic centimeter) = 4.82500 metric tons

Hope this helps.

By: tayknight

tayknight — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 17:34:10 -0800

I love Google as a calculator. But I really love the Frink Server Pages for conversions.

By: yarmond

yarmond — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 18:03:12 -0800

And hydrogen gas is 0.089 metric tons per cubic meter. Gold is 216 times as dense as hydrogen.

You're off by 3 orders of magnitude. The density of hydrogen at STP is 0.089 kg per cubic meter, or 0.000089 metric tons per cubic meter, making Gold 216,000 times as dense.

By: Steven C. Den Beste

Steven C. Den Beste — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 18:05:54 -0800

You're right. (That did sound a little low.)

Density expressed as grams per cubic centimeter, or a kilograms per liter, or as metric tons per cubic meter are all the same value.

By: TheOnlyCoolTim

TheOnlyCoolTim — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:27:11 -0800

For water or mostly-water liquid, always remember:

"A pint's a pound the world around."

Amusingly, that only works in the US.

By: Opposite George

Opposite George — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 19:47:30 -0800

Are you in the marine transport industry? There are units called "tons" that are used to describe ship volume measurements. Maybe you mean one of these?

Apart from that, though, everybody else is right -- you need to know density to convert tons of mass/weight to volume (as well as which ton/tonne you're talking about!)

By: Meep! Eek!

Meep! Eek! — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 20:25:57 -0800

My current favorite conversion site, good for all kinds of conversions: Conversion tables/measurement conversion online.

It's very helpful for figuring distances and jewel sizes (for when they tell me it's 4mmx7mm and I don't have a ruler handy.) It has most standard conversion types, too.

By: socrateaser

socrateaser — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 07:03:07 -0800

Thanks everyone.

To answer Opposite George's question, no, I'm not in the marine transport industry.

I'm trying to analyze what impacts construction of a new road would have on landfills. Specifically, if there is an imbalance in earthwork during construction (i.e., cut/fill), and the excess is deposited in a landfill, it could reduce capacity of a landfill and ultimately, its life span. I wanted some hard number in addition to my argument that the landfill just shuts down when it reaches daily, permitted capacity.

By: Araucaria

Araucaria — Fri, 13 Oct 2006 13:55:14 -0800

TheOnlyCoolTim writes "For water or mostly-water liquid, always remember:

"'A pint's a pound the world around.'

"Amusingly, that only works in the US."

And not even there. 1 US Gallon of water is 8 and 1/3 pounds. Why that odd amount? so that 12 gallons will equal one 100-weight. Therefore one pint is actually 1 pound, 2/3 ounce.