How much do everyday things weigh?
A chart of 32 familiar things, lightest first, from a grain of rice to a whale. Learn a handful of these and you can estimate the weight of almost anything by comparison.
| Thing | Weight | Also | Which one |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grain of rice | 25 mg | 0.025 g | uncooked |
| Paperclip | 1 g | 0.0353 oz | |
| Dollar bill | 1 g | 0.0353 oz | US Bureau of Engraving and Printing |
| Blueberry | 1.36 g | 0.048 oz | |
| US penny | 2.5 g | 0.0882 oz | US Mint spec |
| US quarter | 5.67 g | 0.2 oz | US Mint spec |
| AA battery | 23 g | 0.811 oz | alkaline |
| Egg | 60 g | 2.12 oz | large egg, in shell |
| Banana | 120 g | 4.23 oz | medium, peeled |
| Apple | 180 g | 6.35 oz | medium |
| Smartphone | 206 g | 7.27 oz | iPhone 17 Pro |
| Potato | 213 g | 7.51 oz | medium |
| 250-page paperback | 275 g | 9.7 oz | 80 gsm paper |
| Loaf of bread | 800 g | 28.2 oz | large sliced loaf |
| Liter of water | 998 g | 35.2 oz | at 20°C, no bottle |
| Laptop | 1.51 kg | 3.33 lb | 15-inch MacBook Air |
| Brick | 2.13 kg | 4.7 lb | average UK brick |
| Cat | 4.5 kg | 9.92 lb | |
| Watermelon | 9.07 kg | 20 lb | 20 lb, a typical US watermelon |
| Bicycle | 11.7 kg | 25.7 lb | Trek FX 2, size M |
| Labrador | 30 kg | 66.1 lb | |
| Person | 62 kg | 137 lb | world adult average |
| Fridge | 68 kg | 150 lb | 390 L single-door, empty |
| Washing machine | 72.4 kg | 160 lb | Bosch Series 6, 9 kg load |
| Horse | 500 kg | 1,100 lb | riding horse |
| Grand piano | 500 kg | 1,100 lb | Steinway Model D concert grand |
| Cow | 680 kg | 1,500 lb | Holstein dairy cow |
| Car | 1,400 kg | 3,090 lb · 1.4 tonnes | Toyota Corolla |
| Elephant | 6,000 kg | 13,200 lb · 6 tonnes | African bush elephant bull |
| City bus | 12,000 kg | 26,500 lb · 12 tonnes | 40 ft bus, empty |
| Boeing 737 | 41,400 kg | 91,300 lb · 41.4 tonnes | 737-800, empty |
| Blue whale | 150 tonnes | 165 US tons · 331,000 lb | large adult |
Each name links to a page with the source for that figure and how it compares with other things. Real objects vary; these are representative values for the version named in the last column.
Rules of thumb
- A litre of water weighs a kilogram. Anything that is mostly water, which includes fruit, vegetables and animals, weighs roughly a kilogram per litre of size.
- A kilogram is about 2.2 pounds, a pound is about 454 grams and an ounce about 28 grams.
- A tonne is 1,000 kg. A US ton is 2,000 pounds, about 907 kg.
- Twice as long means about eight times as heavy for things of the same shape, because width and height grow too.
- Count the zeros. Write both weights in grams; the answer to "how many of these balance that" is mostly the difference in digits.
More on the method in why weight is so hard to guess. Every weight in the game is listed on the weights page.