kiloton

See also: kilotón

English

Alternative forms

• kilotonne

Etymology

metric prefix kilo- +‎ ton

Pronunciation

• (US) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪləˌtʌn/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

kiloton (plural kilotons)

1. A measure of the strength of an explosion or a bomb based on how many thousand tons of TNT would be needed to produce the same energy.

   That's a 300-kiloton nuclear warhead.

   • 2022 August 24, Bruce Healey, “Wartime tunnel crash: a miraculous escape”, in RAIL, number 964, page 53:

     Halifax in Canada was devastated by a ship exploding in 1917. SS Mont Blanc, a French vessel loaded with 2.9 kilotons of explosives, collided with the Imo.

2. One thousand tons.

Derived terms

• kilotonnage

Related terms

• megaton
• gigaton

Translations

unit of measure

• Basque: kilotoi
• Catalan: quilotona f
• Czech: kilotuna (cs) f
• Dutch: kiloton (nl)
• Finnish: kilotonni (fi)
• French: kilotonne (fr) f
• Macedonian: килотон (kiloton)
• Russian: килото́нна (ru) f (kilotónna)
• Vietnamese: kilô tấn (rare)