(noun. /KAL-or-ee/)
by Mariah Jones
What does it mean?
A calorie is a unit of energy. One calorie is the amount of energy required to increase the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1°C.
How do I use it in a sentence?
Calories are often converted into other units during thermodynamic experiments.
Image: This is an example of a calorimeter, an instrument used to determine the caloric value of a sample. The caloric value is the number of calories, or the amount of energy, produced when the sample is burned. The caloric value of the sample is determined by its ability to raise the temperature of the surrounding water. Image source
Etymology
From the Latin root word ‘calor’, meaning ‘heat.’
Fields of study in which this word is commonly used
Biology
Chemistry
Biochemistry
Thermodynamics
Nutrition
Misconceptions
The “calories” seen in nutrition facts refers to “kilocalories”. Kilocalories can be referred to as the “food calorie”. There are 1,000 calories in 1 kilocalorie.
