Customary Units of Weight and Mass

19.3 Compare Customary Units of Weight

I can represent and compare different units of weight.

Open Ended

Without using a scale, tell me how much a watermelon weighs. Does it weigh as much as a house? Is it the size of two basketballs? How much do you think a watermelon would weigh in comparison to something else?

New Vocabulary

• A pound (aka lbs) is a customary unit for measuring weight. A loaf of bread weighs about 1 pound.

• An ounce (aka oz) is a customary unit for measuring weight. A slice of bread weighs about 1 ounce.

• A ton is a customary unit for measuring weight. A rhino.

Our next few problems will deal with this scenario

This African elephant weighs 6 tons. There are 2,000 pounds in 1 ton. How much does the elephant weigh in pounds?

Help me finish this table.

• 1 ton = 2,000 lbs

• 2 tons = 4,000 lbs

• 3 tons = 6,000 lbs

• 4 tons = 8,000 lbs

• 5 tons = 10,000 lbs

• 6 tons = 12,000 lbs

Fill in the Blanks

How do the numbers of pounds change as you move down the table? They increase by

.

Fill in the Blanks

How do the numbers of tons change as you move down the table? They increase by

.

So let's summarize what we learned here.

The numbers of tons increase by 1 as you move down the table. The difference between any two consecutive values in the numbers of pounds is 2,000.

Fill in the Blanks

So if an elephant weighs six tons, how much does an elephant weigh?

The elephant weighs 12,000 lbs!

The elephant weighs 6 tons. Each ton is 2,000 pounds, so 6 tons is equal to 12,000 pounds.