British Thermal Unit to Calorie Converter

Energy · unit-converter

Convert British Thermal Unit to Calorie with fixed input and output units, a step-by-step formula line, and reference tables. Factors are joule-based; food energy uses thermochemical calories. The full Energy Converter also includes MMBtu, toe, thermal kWh, and MeV/GeV.

Calculator

From: British Thermal Unit (btu)

To: Calorie (cal)

About British Thermal Unit

The British thermal unit used here is the IT BTU: ≈ 1,055.056 J. It appears in HVAC, heating equipment, and US engineering data.

About Calorie

The small calorie (cal) is 4.184 J in this converter (thermochemical). Do not confuse with the dietary kilocalorie (kcal).

How to convert british thermal units to calories

1 british thermal unit is equal to 252.16440072179731 calorie when both are expressed in joule-equivalents:

1 btu = (1,055.05585262 J ÷ 4.184 J) cal = 252.16440072179731 cal

Each british thermal unit is defined as 1,055.05585262 J and each calorie as 4.184 J in this tool, so one btu equals 1,055.05585262 ÷ 4.184 cal = 252.16440072179731 cal.

Let d(btu) be the numeric amount in British Thermal Unit (btu), and d(cal) the amount in Calorie (cal). Then:

d(cal) = d(btu) × (1,055.05585262 / 4.184)

Equivalently, divide by how many btu fit into one cal (joules per cal divided by joules per btu):

d(cal) = d(btu) ÷ 0.00396566683139

Or: calorie = british thermal unit ÷ 0.00396566683139

Examples

Example #1: Convert 1 btu to calorie

1 btu = 1 btu × (1,055.05585262/4.184) cal = 252.164400722 cal

1 btu = 1 btu ÷ 0.00396566683139 = 252.164400722 cal

Example #2: Convert 10 btu to calorie

10 btu = 10 btu × (1,055.05585262/4.184) cal = 2521.64400722 cal

10 btu = 10 btu ÷ 0.00396566683139 = 2521.64400722 cal

Summary

To convert British Thermal Unit to Calorie, multiply the value in btu by the ratio of joules per btu divided by joules per cal. Equivalently: value_cal = value_btu × (1055.05585262 / 4.184). Numerically, 1 btu equals 252.1644007217973 cal.

Relationship context

You are converting between US / imperial engineering units (BTU, therm, ft·lb) (British Thermal Units) and food / nutrition energy (calories) (Calories). All values are mapped through joules first. The numeric factor is 2.521644e+2.

Conversion tables

British Thermal Unit (btu)Calorie (cal)
0.125.2164400722
1252.164400722
2504.328801444
3756.493202165
41,008.65760289
51,260.82200361
61,512.98640433
71,765.15080505
82,017.31520577
92,269.4796065
British Thermal Unit (btu)Calorie (cal)
102,521.64400722
205,043.28801444
307,564.93202165
4010,086.5760289
5012,608.2200361
6015,129.8640433
7017,651.5080505
8020,173.1520577
9022,694.796065
10025,216.4400722