One Ton of TNT

100 t TNT

Did you know that "one ton of TNT" = 1 billion calories, by definition?

I just stumbled on this when I used the Hiroshima bomb strength of 63 TJ = 15 kt TNT and found 1 t TNT = 4,184,000,000 J and I recognized the "4184" from converting joules to calories. Sure enough it's true.

And it seems this is a metric ton -- I always thought "ton of TNT" meant a British ton (2000 lbs).

Also, 1 t TNT = 1,162 kWh. I would have guessed it was a lot bigger. I used 0.75 t TNT of electricity last month. (Electric heat, unfortunately.)

Huh.