Calorie to British Thermal Unit Converter

Energy · unit-converter

Convert Calorie to British Thermal Unit 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: Calorie (cal)

To: British Thermal Unit (btu)

About Calorie

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

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.

How to convert calories to british thermal units

1 calorie is equal to 0.00396566683139 british thermal unit when both are expressed in joule-equivalents:

1 cal = (4.184 J ÷ 1,055.05585262 J) btu = 0.00396566683139 btu

Each calorie is defined as 4.184 J and each british thermal unit as 1,055.05585262 J in this tool, so one cal equals 4.184 ÷ 1,055.05585262 btu = 0.00396566683139 btu.

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

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

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

d(btu) = d(cal) ÷ 252.16440072179731

Or: british thermal unit = calorie ÷ 252.16440072179731

Examples

Example #1: Convert 1 cal to british thermal unit

1 cal = 1 cal × (4.184/1,055.05585262) btu = 0.0039656668 btu

1 cal = 1 cal ÷ 252.16440072179731 = 0.0039656668 btu

Example #2: Convert 10 cal to british thermal unit

10 cal = 10 cal × (4.184/1,055.05585262) btu = 0.0396566683 btu

10 cal = 10 cal ÷ 252.16440072179731 = 0.0396566683 btu

Summary

To convert Calorie to British Thermal Unit, multiply the value in cal by the ratio of joules per cal divided by joules per btu. Equivalently: value_btu = value_cal × (4.184 / 1055.05585262). Numerically, 1 cal equals 0.003965666831390919 btu.

Relationship context

You are converting between food / nutrition energy (calories) (Calories) and US / imperial engineering units (BTU, therm, ft·lb) (British Thermal Units). All values are mapped through joules first. The numeric factor is 3.965667e-3.

Conversion tables

Calorie (cal)British Thermal Unit (btu)
0.10.0003965667
10.0039656668
20.0079313337
30.0118970005
40.0158626673
50.0198283342
60.023794001
70.0277596678
80.0317253347
90.0356910015
Calorie (cal)British Thermal Unit (btu)
100.0396566683
200.0793133366
300.1189700049
400.1586266733
500.1982833416
600.2379400099
700.2775966782
800.3172533465
900.3569100148
1000.3965666831