Calorie to Millijoule Converter

A calorie (cal), also called a small calorie or gram calorie, is a unit of energy equal to approximately 4.184 joules. It represents the energy needed to raise the temperature of one gram of water by one degree Celsius at standard atmospheric pressure.

The calorie was defined by French chemist Nicolas Clément in 1824 as a unit for measuring heat. It was widely used in chemistry and physics for calorimetry and thermodynamics before being largely replaced by the joule in scientific applications, though it remains in use for food energy.

Calories are primarily used in chemistry for small-scale energy measurements, in some scientific literature, and occasionally in food and nutrition contexts. However, they've been largely replaced by joules in scientific applications and by kilocalories (food calories) in nutrition.

A millijoule (mJ) is a unit of energy equal to one thousandth of a joule (10⁻³ J). It represents small amounts of energy, typically found in electronic circuits, small mechanical systems, and precision energy measurements.

The millijoule became important with the development of precision electronics and small-scale energy measurements. It was particularly useful for measuring energy in electronic pulses, small mechanical impacts, and low-energy physical and chemical processes.

Millijoules are used in electronics for measuring pulse energy, in precision mechanics for small impact measurements, in laser technology for pulse energy, and in materials testing for small-scale energy absorption measurements.