Two kilograms is the equivalent of 4.4 pounds or 70.5 ounces using the Standard Imperial System.
Estimating two kilograms for anyone who isn’t used to the metric system may be a challenge, but if you use everyday objects as a reference, you should be able to tell how much two kilograms weigh just by holding them.
In this article, I’m going to show you nine common objects that weigh close to or precisely two kilograms.
17 Gala Apples
Like any other fruit, apples come in various shapes and sizes. And let’s not forget about the 7,500 varieties of apples that grow around the world!
But if you live in the United States, you’re probably most familiar with the Gala apple, which has a mildly sweet flavor and is great for making sweet apple pies.
A single Gala apple has an average weight of around 120 grams. If you gather 17 Gala apples in a bunch, it should give you a weight of a sliver over two kilograms.
But if you’re a fan of Red Delicious, which weighs about 174 grams individually, you’ll only need a dozen of them to reach two kilograms.
2-Liter Water Bottle
Here’s the great thing about water. A single cubic centimeter (cc) of water weighs exactly one gram. So, to measure two kilograms using water as your reference, you would need exactly 2,000 cc of it, which is equal to two liters.
But taking the weight of the plastic container into account, the total weight of a two-liter bottle of water will be about 2,042 grams. That’s still pretty close to the 2,000-gram mark, the same as two kilograms. This is why the metric system is so handy!
Brick
A standard red clay brick will typically measure roughly 8 × 4 × 2.25 inches in size. Bricks are used for construction purposes, such as building walls, walkways, and even fire pits for baking pizzas. If you have a single standard red brick lying around, it should weigh roughly 2.27 kilograms.
$2,000 in $1 Bills
A single United States dollar bill, regardless of its denomination, will weigh exactly one gram, according to the US Department of the Treasury. So, like water, all you would have to do is multiply the weight of a single bill by 2,000 to get two kilograms.
Have you ever held $2,000 in single-dollar bills before? If you have, then you know should have an idea of how much two kilograms weighs. Or if you were fortunate enough to have $200,000 in hundred-dollar bills, it would give you the same weight.
Now, what if you only had quarters as a reference? A quarter weighs just 0.0125 pounds or about 5.67 grams. Using quarters as your weight guide, you would need about 353 of them to reach two kilograms, which is the equivalent of $88.25 in monetary value.
14-17 Bananas
Like apples, bananas come in a variety of shapes, sizes, and over 1,000 types. But if you live in the United States, you’ve probably munched on a Cavendish banana before.
A single Cavendish banana will weigh between 118 and 136 grams, meaning you would need between 14 and 17 of them to get to two kilograms. The size and shape of the banana will affect its weight, so using bananas as your reference won’t give you a precise figure.
Laptop
If you’re reading this at a café, then you probably know that laptops come in different sizes. One of the more popular screen sizes is 15.6 inches, which provides enough space to include a Numpad on the laptop’s keyboard.
A 15.6-inch laptop has an average weight of five pounds. Converted into the metric system, that equals 2.26 kilograms. A 14-inch laptop, on the other hand, will weigh between 1.5 to two kilograms,
3 Basketballs
There are seven basketball sizes to choose from. Kids aged 9 to 11 years typically play with size 5 basketballs, which measure 27.5 inches in circumference. The WNBA uses size 6 basketballs with a circumference of 28.5 inches. As for the NBA, they use the widest basketballs of all—size 7 that measure 29.5 inches.
The weight of a size 3 basketball is about 22 ounces when fully inflated. So, you’ll need three of them to estimate how much two kilograms weighs. As for size 6 and size 3 basketballs, you’ll need 3.5 and four of them, respectively.
12 Hockey Pucks
A standard hockey puck measures precisely one inch across and should weigh six ounces, according to the NHL. In metric terms, a single hockey puck weighs 171 grams, so to measure two kilograms in hockey pucks, you would need just short of a dozen of them.
Of course, this is only under the assumption that you haven’t whacked the heck out of the hockey puck yet. Hockey pucks must be replaced after two to three minutes of playtime, after which they will soften and chip more easily. So, the longer you play with a puck, the more pieces will break off, and the less it will weigh.
14 Tommy Atkins Mangoes
The world is filled with close to 300 types of mangoes, but the most widely grown type in the United States is the Tommy Atkins mango. A single Tommy Atkins mango usually grows up to one inch in diameter and weighs 138 grams on average.
That means you would need between 14 and 15 Tommy Atkins mangos to get to two kilograms. If you buy them wholesale, two kilograms of this type of mango will cost you roughly $4.
Conclusion
And there you have it—nine common objects you can use to estimate two kilograms. Ideally, you’ll have a scale on hand to carefully measure two kilograms, but if you don’t, the objects I listed above should get you a pretty close guesstimation.
If you’d like to share any other everyday two-kilogram objects, please let everyone know by dropping a comment. And don’t forget to share this article with your friends who have no idea how to guess how much two kilograms feels.
Leave a Reply