Originally defined in 1795 as "the absoluteweight of avolume of purewater equal tothe cube of the hundredth part of ametre [1 cm3], and atthe temperature ofmeltingice",[1] the defining temperature (0 °C) was later changed to the temperature ofmaximum density of water (approximately 4 °C). Subsequent redefinitions agree with this original definition to within 30parts per million (0.003%), with the maximumdensity of water remaining very close to 1 g/cm3, as shown by modern measurements.[2]
The only unit symbol for gram that is recognised by theInternational System of Units (SI) is "g" following the numeric value with a space, as in "640 g" to stand for "640 grams" in the English language. The SI disallows use of abbreviations such as "gr" (which is the symbol forgrains),[5]: C-19 "gm" ("g⋅m" is the SI symbol for gram-metre) or "Gm" (the SI symbol forgigametre).
The wordgramme was adopted by the FrenchNational Convention in its 1795 decree revising themetric system as replacing thegravet (introduced in 1793 simultaneously with a base measure calledgrave, of whichgravet was a subdivision). Its definition remained that of themass (then calledweight) of acubic centimetre ofwater.[6][7]
Frenchgramme was taken from theLate Latin termgramma. This word—ultimately from Greekγράμμα (grámma), "letter"—had adopted a specialised meaning inLate Antiquity of "one twenty-fourth part of an ounce" (twooboli),[8] corresponding to about 1.14 modern grams. This use of the term is found in thecarmen de ponderibus et mensuris ("poem about weights and measures") composed around 400 AD.[a]There is also evidence that the Greekγράμμα was used in the same sense at around the same time, in the 4th century, and survived in this sense intoMedieval Greek,[10] while the Latin term died out inMedieval Latin and was recovered inRenaissance scholarship.[b]
One gram ofamphetamines (the unit often used for street retail)
The gram is the most widely used unit of measurement for non-liquid ingredients in cooking and grocery shopping worldwide.[11][12][verification needed] Liquid ingredients are often measured byvolume rather thanmass.
Many standards and legal requirements fornutrition labels on food products require relative contents to be stated per 100 g of the product, such that the resulting figure can also be read as apercentage by mass.
1 undecimogramme = 1 "eleventh-gram" = 10−11 grams in the historical quadrant–eleventh-gram–second system (QES system) a.k.a. hebdometre–undecimogramme–second system (HUS system)[15]
^The date and authorship of this Late Latin didactic poem are both uncertain; it was attributed toPriscian but is now attributed to Rem(m)ius Favinus/Flav(in)us.[9] The poem's title is reflected in the French phrasepoids et mesures ("weights and mesures") in the title of the 1795 National Convention decree,Décret relatif aux poids et aux mesures that introduced the gram, and indirectly in the name of theGeneral Conference on Weights and Measures responsible for the modern definition of the metric units.
^In the Renaissance, thecarmen de ponderibus et mensuris was received as a work of the 1st-century grammarianRemmius Palaemon edited in 1528 by Johann Setzer ofHagenau, together with works byCelsius,Priscian and Johannes Caesarius;Aurelij Cornelij Celsi, De re medica, libri octo eruditissimi. Q. Sereni Samonici Praecepta medica, uersibus hexametris. Q. Rhemnij Fannij Palaemonis, De ponderibus [et] mensuris, liber rarus [et] utilissimus
^"Décret relatif aux poids et aux mesures du 18 germinal an 3 (7 avril 1795)" [Decree of 18 Germinal, year III (April 7, 1795) regarding weights and measures].Grandes lois de la République (in French). Digithèque de matériaux juridiques et politiques, Université de Perpignan.Archived from the original on 10 May 2013. Retrieved3 November 2011.
^Convention nationale, décret du 1er août 1793, ed. Duvergier,Collection complète des lois, décrets, ordonnances, règlemens avis du Conseil d'état, publiée sur les éditions officielles du Louvre, vol. 6 (2nd ed. 1834),p. 70Archived 2015-04-02 at theWayback Machine.Themetre (mètre) on which this definition depends was itself defined as the ten-millionth part of a quarter of Earth'smeridian, given intraditional units as 3pieds, 11.44lignes (aligne being the 12th part of anpouce (inch), or the 144th part of apied.
^Knorr, Wilbur R. (1996). "Carmen de ponderibus et mensuris". In Hornblower, Simon; Spawforth, Antony (eds.).The Oxford Classical Dictionary (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. p. 292.ISBN019866172X.
^Henry George Liddell. Robert Scott.A Greek-English Lexicon (revised and augmented edition, Oxford, 1940)s.v. γράμμαArchived 2015-07-17 at theWayback Machine, citing the 10th-century workGeoponica and a 4th-century papyrus edited in L. Mitteis,Griechische Urkunden der Papyrussammlung zu Leipzig, vol. i (1906), 62 ii 27.
^Gisslen, Wayne (2010).Professional Cooking, College Version. New York: Wiley. p. 107.ISBN978-0-470-19752-3. Retrieved20 April 2011.The system of measurement used in the United States is complicated. Even when people have used the system all their lives, they still sometimes have trouble remembering things like how many fluid ounces are in a quart or how many feet are in a mile. ... The United States is the only major country that uses almost exclusively the complex system of measurement we have just described.
