Calculators for Energy Used in the United States
- Measuring energy in food — food calories versus energy calories
Measuring energy in food
Food calories are a measure of energy in food. One food calorie is equal to 1,000 calories, or 1 kilocalorie. For example, the energy in a 300 (food) calorie ice cream cone is about the same as the amount of electricity required to light a 100-watt incandescent light bulb for 3½ hours.
Scientific notation explained
Scientific notation is a short-hand way of writing a number that has a lot of digits. For example, the number 525,000,000 could be written as 5.25E+08. The "+08" indicates the decimal should be moved eight places to the right. A negative number after the "E" means the decimal should be moved a certain number of places to the left. For example, 5.25E-03 is the same as 0.00525.