metric tons and tons

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Chemical leak into river puts focus on plantUpdated: 2013-01-11 07:25
By Wu Wencong and Sun Ruisheng in Shanxi and Peng Yining in Beijing ( China Daily)

The leak, caused by a crack in a delivery pipeline to a storage tank, of 30 tons of aniline, which has a density similar to water, was erroneously directed into the reservoir, which has lain unused since 1993.

670 metric tons of contaminated ice, and more than 750 tons of wastewater had been cleared away.

Approximately 39 metric tons leaked into an 80-sq-km river basin and affected 28 villages in Shanxi,

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The British ton is the long ton, which is 2240 pounds, and the U.S. ton is the short ton which is 2000 pounds.

Both tons are actually defined in the same way. 1 ton is equal to 20 hundredweight. It is just the definition of the hundredweight that differs between countries. In the U.S. there are 100 pounds in the hundredweight, and in Britain there are 112 pounds in the hundredweight. This causes the actual weight of the ton to differ between countries.

To distinguish between the two tons, the smaller U.S. ton is called short, while the larger British ton is called long.

There is also an third type of ton called the metric ton, equal to 1000 kilograms, or approximately 2204 pounds. The metric ton is officially called tonne. The SI standard calls it tonne, but the U.S. Government recommends calling it metric ton.

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Metric ton = tonne
A unit of weight equivalent to 1000 kilograms

The metric ton is often spelled as tonne, and in the United States may also he called a tonneau. It's important to not confuse metic tons with short tons unit, known simply as a ton in the system used in the United States. This ton is equal to 2000 pounds, or roughly 907kg. It should also not be confused with a long ton, a unit no longer in common usage in the United States, which is equal to 2240 pounds.