cal to kcal — convert calories to kilocalories
Exact 1 ÷ 1,000 = 0.001
1 calorie in other units
| Joules | 4.184 | J |
|---|---|---|
| Kilojoules | 0.004184 | kJ |
| Megajoules | 0.000004184 | MJ |
| Watt-hours | 0.001162222222 | Wh |
| Kilowatt-hours | 0.000001162222 | kWh |
| Kilocalories | 0.001 | kcal |
| British thermal units | 0.003965666831 | BTU |
| Therms | 3.9657e-8 | thm |
| Foot-pounds | 3.08596 | ft·lbf |
| Electronvolts | 26,114,473,967,543,832,576 | eV |
cal to kcal at a glance
| Calories | Kilocalories |
|---|---|
| 1 cal | 0.001 kcal |
| 2 cal | 0.002 kcal |
| 3 cal | 0.003 kcal |
| 5 cal | 0.005 kcal |
| 10 cal | 0.01 kcal |
| 20 cal | 0.02 kcal |
| 25 cal | 0.025 kcal |
| 50 cal | 0.05 kcal |
| 100 cal | 0.1 kcal |
| 250 cal | 0.25 kcal |
| 500 cal | 0.5 kcal |
| 1,000 cal | 1 kcal |
How to convert calories to kilocalories
Multiply by 0.001 — one calorie is 0.001 kilocalories. That factor is exact: it comes from the definition of the units rather than from a measurement, so it will not change and does not need rounding.
Working 1 ÷ 1,000 = 0.001
Questions
How many kilocalories are in a calorie?
One calorie is 0.001 kilocalories. This figure is exact — it comes from the definition of the unit, not a measurement.
What is 1 calorie in kilocalories?
1 calorie is 0.001 kilocalories. The working is 1 ÷ 1,000 = 0.001.
Is a food Calorie the same as a calorie?
No — it is a thousand of them. The Calorie on a nutrition label is a kilocalorie, written with a capital C in principle and almost never in practice. A 250 Calorie chocolate bar holds 250,000 physics calories, or about 1,046 kilojoules, which is why European labels quote kJ alongside.
What does a kilowatt-hour actually represent?
One kilowatt drawn for one hour — a 1,000 W heater running for sixty minutes, or a 100 W bulb for ten hours. It is the unit your electricity bill is priced in, and it equals exactly 3.6 million joules.
How much energy is one BTU?
Roughly the heat needed to raise one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit — about 1,055 joules, or the energy in a single kitchen match. Air conditioners are rated in BTU per hour, where a 12,000 BTU/h unit is one "ton" of cooling and draws around 3.5 kW of heat.
Why is the electronvolt so small?
Because it is sized for single particles: it is the energy one electron picks up crossing a one-volt potential difference. At about 1.6 × 10⁻¹⁹ joules it would be absurd for anything larger, which is precisely why particle physics uses it instead of dragging around twenty leading zeros.