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Weight/Mass | Convert from carat [international] to dalton |
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Common Weight Conversions Metric Weight Conversions Unit Definition (carat [international]) The carat [international] is a unit of mass used for diamonds and other precious stones. Originally spelled karat, the word comes from the Greek keration, a carob bean; carob beans were used as standards of weight and length in ancient Greece in much the same way barleycorns were used in old England. Traditionally the carat was equal to 4 grains. The definition of the grain differed from one country to another, but typically it was about 50 milligrams and thus the carat was about 200 milligrams. Unit Definition (dalton) The dalton is an alternate name for the unified atomic mass unit (u or amu). The dalton is often used in microbiology and biochemistry to state the masses of large organic molecules; these measurements are typically in kilodaltons (kDa). It seems necessary to have such a unit, since "kilo-amu" would be such a clumsy name. The SI accepts the dalton as an alternate name for the unified atomic mass unit and specifies Da as its proper symbol. The unit honors the English chemist John Dalton (1766-1844), who proposed the atomic theory of matter in 1803.
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