A pound is a unit of mass and weight. It’s the same in both the U.S. and the UK, but not all other countries use it as their main unit of measurement for weight.

In the U.S., a pound is equal to 16 ounces, or 453.592 grams (in scientific notation: lb). This number comes from an old Roman weight system that was based on 12 ounces per pound (libra), with 12 being the symbol for pounds.

The British system uses 14 avoirdupois ounces per pound, which is about 437.5 grams (in scientific notation: lb). Avoirdupois means “goods sold by weight” in French, so this term refers to goods sold by their weight, not by volume like liquid or dry measures do.

So, how many pounds are in a ton? There are 2,000 pounds in a ton, which means that one ton is equal to 1,016 kilograms (in scientific notation: t).

Last modified: September 20, 2022