Relation Between Calorie and Joule

Relation Between Calorie and Joule - A Complete Guide

Edited By Team Careers360 | Updated on Dec 02, 2024 12:36 AM IST

Between the two, a calorie and the joules is that them-they are fundamentally a concept of physics bridging thermal energy-mechanical energy in a sense. While heat is currently measured by calories, joules represent energy across any technically SI standard unit. Their interconversion is the basis of all thermodynamics, energy transfer, and many everyday activities such as nutrition application problems.

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What is a Calorie?

Calorie is the unit of heat in the C.G.S. system, also called the practical unit of heat while the S.I. unit of heat is the joule. However, the Calorie unit is more widely used when heat is measured. This unit was formulated way before it was recognized that heat is a form of energy.

What is Joule?

Joule is known as the SI unit of work or energy. One Joule is the amount of work done when the force of one Newton acts upon an object in the direction of movement for a distance of one metre.

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Calorie And Joule

We can convert calories to joules and vice-versa by a simple conversion relation, i.e. 1 calorie is equal to 4.186 joules.

1 Cal = 4.186 joule = 4.2 joule

We can also use the unit kcal meaning kilocalories. 1 kcal to cal can be converted by a simple conversion relation, i.e. 1kcal=1000cal.

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Joule Calorie Conversion

In physics, the conversion between two units of energy, calorie to joule and joule to a calorie is crucial in solving problems. Scroll down the page for the list of values and their conversion from calorie to joule and joule to calorie.

Calorie to Joule

The table shown below consists of a few of the most popular calorie-to-joule conversion values-

Calorie	Joule
1	4.184
20	83.68
30	125.52
40	167.36
50	209.2
100	418.4
500	2092
1,000 or 1 kcal	4184
5,000 or 5 kcal	20920
10,000 or 10 kcal	41840

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Joule to Calorie

The table shown below consists of a few of the most popular Joule to Calorie conversion values-

Joules	Calories
1	0.2388
10	2.388
20	4.776
30	7.164
40	9.552
50	11.94
100	23.88
500	119.4
1000	238.8
5000	1194

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

1. What is the kinetic energy of a 10kg mass of a body moving with a speed of 36km per hour?

Kinetic energy=(12)mv2=12×10kg×[(36×103)/3600s]2

=500J= (500/4.186) cal= 120 cal

2. The calorie is defined as 1 cal= 4.186 joule. Why cannot we round it off to 1 cal= 4 joule to make conversions easy?

We cannot round it off to 1 cal= 4 joules because there will be a significant error/ difference/discrepancy in work done (and hence the heat) needed to raise the temperature of 1g of water from 14.5 ̊C to 15. 5 ̊C (as work and heat are equivalent here, i.e. we need 4.186 J of work to be done to heat that amount of water to raise its temperature by one degree).

3. Water equivalent of a body is measured in?

4. What is the relation between calorie and joules?

1 Cal=4.186 J

5. How much is the latent heat of fusion of ice?

80 cal g-1