Sixth Grade
Worksheets
Calories
You've probably heard someone at a party comment that a cake was loaded with calories. Maybe you've heard that someone was counting his or her calories when he or she was on a diet. Did you ever stop and wonder what a calorie really was?
A calorie is a unit of measurement. When you think of measurement, you probably think of how tall someone is or how long a piece of furniture is. A calorie, however, does not measure weight or length. Instead, it is used to measure energy.
The technical definition of a calorie is the amount of energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water one degree Celsius. Day-to-day, it is used in the context of food. However, it can be used on anything containing energy. In fact, for those who want to be technical about it, a Calorie of food is actually equal to 1,000 real calories in the scientific sense. However, in food, people have gotten used to using the term calorie instead of kilocalorie.
