Arrobas (Spanish) to Metric Tons (@ to t)

1 arroba (Spanish) equals 0.011502325 metric tons exactly.

1 arroba (Spanish) = 0.011502325 metric tons

How to convert arrobas (Spanish) to metric tons

To convert arrobas (Spanish) to metric tons, multiply the number of arrobas (Spanish) by 0.011502325. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply metric tons by 86.93894495 (rounded).

metric tons = arrobas (Spanish) × 0.011502325

Example: 10 arrobas (Spanish) = 0.11502325 metric tons.

Approximate value. Standards for the arroba (Spanish) varied by place and period, so this converter uses the most commonly cited value. Treat results as estimates, not exact figures.

About these units

Arroba (Spanish) (@)

Spanish & PortugueseHistorical unit (no longer in standard use)Approximate value

25 libras, about 11.5 kg. A Castilian weight (and a liquid volume unit); the '@' sign descends from its abbreviation.

Arabic ar-rubʿ, meaning a quarter, is the probable source of arroba, since the unit was the fourth part of a quintal. Moorish rule in Iberia left the word in Spanish and Portuguese, and Wikipedia repeats a tradition, without a source, that it approximated what a donkey could carry. In Castile the quintal was 100 libras, which makes the arroba 25 libras.

With the Castilian libra of 0.460093 kg set in the standard of 1801, the Spanish arroba comes to about 11.5 kg, the figure used here. Similar values were found in Catalonia, Aragon and Andalusia, while the Portuguese arroba was heavier at about 14.7 kg. The same name also applied to a liquid measure for wine and oil, so the word could mean either a weight or a volume depending on the trade.

Colonial administrations took the unit across the Atlantic, where it hardened into different national values: 15 kg in Brazilian cattle and cotton markets, and 12.5 kg in Colombia, Ecuador and Peru. In Spanish and Portuguese the at sign in email addresses is still called arroba, because the symbol was long used as shorthand for the unit.

1 arroba (Spanish) = 11.502325 kilograms (approximately).

Sources: Wikipedia: Arroba; Wikipedia: Spanish customary units

Metric Ton (t)

Metric (SI)Current unit

1,000 kilograms (about 2,204.6 lb), also spelled tonne. Used for cargo, grain and vehicle weights outside the US.

Barrels gave the tonne its name. The word goes back to a Germanic root for a large cask, the tun, and a full tun could easily weigh around a tonne. In English this became ton; the spelling tonne has been used in France since 1842, where it replaced the older tonneau, and pre-metric French tonnes were 2,000 livres, about 979 kg. Once the metric system took hold, the tonne was fixed at 1,000 kilograms, which is the mass of roughly a cubic metre of water.

The unit is accepted for use with the SI, and its symbol is a lowercase t with no period. Because it sits close to the old English ton, the two get confused: the short ton used in the US is about 10 percent lighter than a tonne, while the long ton differs by less than 2 percent. NIST calls the unit the metric ton, and the spelling tonne is rare in the US. Very large quantities are stated in prefixed forms such as the megatonne, which equals a teragram. In explosives, a tonne of TNT is taken as about 4.2 gigajoules.

1 metric ton = 1,000 kilograms (exactly).

Sources: Wikipedia: Tonne; Wikipedia: Ton; NIST Guide to the SI, Appendix B.8 (mass conversions)

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