Science Unit Conversion Humor

This is a list of funny, made-up scientific unit conversions. If you need help with real unit conversions, check out our collection of printable conversion worksheets and examples of worked unit conversion problems.

• 453.6 graham crackers = 1 pound cake
  Explanation: There are 453.6 grams in 1 pound.
• Ratio of an igloo's circumference to its diameter = Eskimo Pi
  Explanation: Pi is the ratio of a circle's circumference to diameter, while there is a stereotype that Eskimos dwell in igloos.
• 2000 pounds of Chinese soup = Won ton
  Explanation: A wonton is a type of Chinese dumpling. There are 2000 pounds in 1 ton.
• Time between slipping on a peel and smacking the pavement = 1 bananosecond
  Explanation: Instead of expressing the unit in terms of nanoseconds, it's bananoseconds because a banana caused the fall.
• 1 millionth of a mouthwash = 1 microscope
  Explanation: This refers to the popular mouthwash, Scope. The metric prefix "micro" means one millionth.
• 1 million bicycles = 1 megacycles
  Explanation: The metric prefix "mega" means 10⁶ or one million.
• Weight an evangelist carries with God = 1 billigram
  Explanation: This refers to the American evangelist Billy Graham.
• Time it takes to sail 220 yards at 1 nautical mile per hour = Knotfurlong
• 365.25 days of drinking low-calorie beer = 1 Lite year
• 16.5 feet in the Twilight Zone = 1 Rod Serling
  Explanation: The rod is a unit of length equal to 16.5 feet. Rod Serling is the American tv producer, screenwriter, and narrator responsible for "The Twilight Zone."
• Basic unit of laryngitis - 1 hoarsepower
  Explanation: One symptom of laryngitis is hoarseness.
• Shortest distance between two jokes - a straight line
  Explanation: To deliver a joke as a straight line means it's a short joke delivered with a straight face (like it's not a joke at all).
• 1 million microphones = 1 megaphone
• 365.25 days = 1 unicycle
  Explanation: 365.25 days is one year or one cycle of the Earth around the Sun. It's especially clever because unicycle has another meaning. It's a bike with one wheel.
• Half a large intestine = 1 semicolon
  Explanation: the large intestine is also called the colon. Since it's only half a colon, it's a semicolon, much like half a circle is a semicircle.
• 2000 mockingbirds = two kilomockingbirds
  Explanation: "To Kill a Mockingbird" is a famous novel by author Harper Lee published in 1960. The kilo is the prefix for a thousand. So, 2000 is two kilo.
• 10 cards = 1 decacard
  Explanation: Deca is the prefix for 10.
• 52 cards = 1 deckacard
  Explanation. There are 52 cards in a deck of playing cards.
• 1,000,000 aches = 1 megahurtz
  Explanation: There are one million (10⁶) hertz in 1 megahertz. This is a play on words, substituting hurtz (like pain, but with a "z") for hertz.
• 1 millionth of a fish = 1 microfiche
  Explanation: The word "microfiche" is pronounced like micro-fish. The prefix micro means one millionth.
• 2.4 statute miles of intravenous surgical tubing at Yale University Hospital = 1 I.V. League
  Explanation: Intravenous tubing is also called IV tubing. Yale is one of the Ivy League school, plus 2.4 statute miles is a length equal to 1 league.
• 1 kilogram of falling figs = 1 fig newton
  Explanation: The newton is a unit force, which is mass under acceleration (such as you'd get from falling figs). This play on words refers to the Nabisco cookie, the fig newton.
• 1000 grams of wet socks = 1 literhosen
  Explanation: Lederhosen are short breeches (not actually socks). There are 1000 grams of water (more or less) in one liter. The liter is a unit of volume used for liquids, so wet socks are literhosen.
• 1 trillion pins = 1 terrapin
  Explanation: The prefix terra means a trillion.
• 10 rations = 1 decaration
  Explanation: The prefix deca means 10.
• 100 rations = 1 C-ration
  Explanation: C is the Roman numeral for 100.
• 2 monograms = 1 diagram
  Explanation: Mono is the prefix for one, while dia means two.
• 2 new dimes = new paradigms
  Explanation: Two dimes is a pair of dimes. A paradigm is a model or pattern.

More Science Fun and Humor

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