• rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
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    1 year ago

    I think it’s written ‘tonne’. And you should call it metric tonne if it’s not clear from the context.

    Wikipedia says:

    The tonne is a unit of mass equal to 1000 kilograms. It is a non-SI unit accepted for use with SI. It is also referred to as a metric ton to distinguish it from the non-metric units of the short ton (United States customary units) and the long ton (British imperial units). The official SI unit is the megagram (symbol: Mg), a less common way to express the same amount.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonne

    So yes, you can call it a megagramme and you’d be right. But we european people also sometimes do silly stuff and colloquially use wrong things. For example we also say it’s 20 degrees celsius outside. And that’s not the proper SI unit either. But that’s kinda another topic.

    • mommykink@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      For example we also say it’s 20 degrees celsius outside. And that’s not the proper SI unit either

      Can you elaborate on this? As an American without much experience with the SI system, I wouldn’t think twice if someone said this to me

      • rufus@discuss.tchncs.de
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        1 year ago

        What would you like to know? Regarding temperatures: ‘Kelvin’ is the proper SI unit. It starts with 0 at absolute zero. And then uses the same size for units as celsius uses. So 0°C (the point at which ice made from water melts) is 273.15 Kelvin. 20°C about where you’d wear a t-shirt is about 293 K. So we don’t say it that way but keep saying it’s 15 or 30°C outside.

        Scientists do it right. When you’re melting metal or talking about the temperature of the sun, you won’t have small numbers anyways and you won’t benefit from using celsius. That way you’ll have the 0 at the true 0 and aren’t arbitrarily using water at earth’s atmospheric pressure as your basis. You can translate it easily, anyways. Just add and substract the 273.15. You don’t need a formula and a calculator like when you translate between fahrenheit and celsius.