The short ton is a unit of mass equal to 907.185 kg (2000 lb). In the United States it is often called simply "ton" without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne) and the long ton —rather, the other two are specifically noted. There are, however, some U.S. applications for which "tons", even if unidentified, are usually long tons (e.g., Navy ships) or metric tons (e.g., world grain production figures). To help compare different orders of magnitude we list here masses between 100 and 1000 kilograms. ... A tonne (also called metric ton) is a non-SI unit of mass, accepted for use with SI, defined as: 1 tonne = 103 kg (= 106 g). ... A long ton is the name used in the US for the unit called the ton in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used (alongside the metric system) in the United Kingdom and to some extent in other Commonwealth countries. ...
The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water.
As a displacement ton the long ton is normally measured as the mass of 35 cubic feet of sea water.
Both the shortton and the long ton are composed of twenty hundredweights, each having different values for the hundredweight (100 and 112 pounds respectively).
The shortton is a unit of mass equal to 2000 lb (exactly 907.18474 kg).
In the United States it is often called simply "ton" without distinguishing it from the metric ton (or tonne) and the long ton —rather, the other two are specifically noted.
Both long and shorttons are defined as 20 hundredweights, but a hundredweight is 112 pounds (which is equal to 8 stone) in the Imperial system (long or gross hundredweight) and 100 pounds in the US system (short or net hundredweight).
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