Mass Converter

About the Mass Converter

The Mass Converter turns a weight written in one unit into the same weight written in another — kilograms to pounds for a gym log, grams to ounces for a recipe, or stones to kilograms for body weight. It also keeps the three different tons apart, which is where most mistakes happen. Type a number, pick the two units, and the answer updates as you type.

How to convert kilograms to pounds

The two systems were tied together exactly in 1959: one international pound is exactly 0.45359237 kg. Everything else follows from that single definition, so one kilogram is 2.204623 lb.

$$\begin{aligned} \text{pounds} &= \text{kilograms} \div 0.45359237 \\ \text{kilograms} &= \text{pounds} \times 0.45359237 \end{aligned}$$

Worked example. A 70 kg person weighs 70 ÷ 0.45359237 = 154.32 lb. Going the other way, a 45 lb barbell plate is 45 × 0.45359237 = 20.41 kg.

Kilograms to pounds conversion table

Other exact mass factors

• 1 ounce = 28.349523125 g exactly, which is one sixteenth of a pound.
• 1 stone = 14 pounds exactly, which is 6.350293 kg.
• 1 metric ton = 1,000 kg exactly, which is 2,204.623 lb.
• 1 short ton (US) = 2,000 lb = 907.1847 kg.
• 1 long ton (UK) = 2,240 lb = 1,016.047 kg.

Real-world values

• A litre of fresh water is almost exactly 1 kg, or 2.205 lb.
• A UK adult weighing 11 stone is 154 lb, which is 69.85 kg.
• A checked airline bag limited to 23 kg is 50.7 lb.
• A US nickel coin is exactly 5 g, which is 0.1764 oz.
• A loaded 40-foot shipping container can reach 30,480 kg, which is 30 long tons.
• A blue whale at 150 metric tons weighs 330,693 lb.

Mass, weight and the three tons

Strictly, mass is how much matter a body holds and weight is the force gravity applies to it. Everyday use treats them as the same, and so does this converter — all its units are units of mass. The bigger practical trap is the ton. A metric ton is 1,000 kg, a short ton is 907.18 kg and a long ton is 1,016.05 kg, a spread of about 10 percent, so shipping and freight figures have to say which one they mean.

Converting a recipe or a body weight

Two conversions dominate real use. Recipes move between grams and ounces, where one ounce is 28.3495 g, so a 250 g flour measure is 8.82 oz. Body weight moves between kilograms, pounds and stones, where 80 kg is 176.4 lb, or 12 st 8.4 lb. Both are a single multiplication, because every unit here shares the same zero — unlike a temperature conversion.

Units this converter supports

Nine: milligram, gram, kilogram, metric ton, ounce, pound, stone, short ton (US) and long ton (UK). Any pair converts in either direction. Troy units used for precious metals are not offered.

Frequently asked questions

Related converters

• Force Converter — newtons and pound-force.
• Volume Converter — litres, gallons and cooking measures.
• Momentum Converter — kg·m/s, N·s and lb·ft/s.