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iamstephyk · Jan 27, 2009, 07:21 PM

So ihave these answers worked out, but I'm not sure they are correct help?

There are 3,500,00cal in one pound of fat. How many BTU's is this equivalent to?

We must show our work.

350cal/1 * 1BTU/252cal= 13.8 BTU??

ebaines · Jan 28, 2009, 09:25 AM

Please clarify the number of calories- did you mean to say 3,500? If so, then you are correct. Or did you mean 3,500,000 - in which case you are off by a factor of 1000.

One other possible point of confusion - typically the calorie content of food is written with a capital "C," as in 3,500 Cal. This is because the term "calorie" when discussing food is really a kilo-calorie, or 1000 calories. When someone says that a donut has 100 Calories, they really mean 100,000 calories. So if you are converting 3,500 Calories (capital "C") you first convert to "calories" - which is 3,500,000 - and then convert that number of calories to BTUs.

Capuchin · Jan 28, 2009, 09:43 AM

This is interesting actually, on the back of food, do you guys still have calories labeled as "Cal"? Here in the UK it is labeled "kcal", which makes it far less ambiguous.

ebaines · Jan 28, 2009, 11:59 AM

Originally Posted by Capuchin

, on the back of food, do you guys still have calories labeled as "Cal"?

Yep - here's an example ofa US food label:

Nutrition facts, calories in food, labels, nutritional information and analysis – NutritionData.com

Note the food label example says "Calories." But if you try out the calculator on the right hand side of the page to see how many "calories" you burn in a day, it gives its answer in "kcal."