Calorie to Terajoule 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 terajoule (TJ) is a unit of energy equal to one trillion joules (10¹² J). It represents enormous amounts of energy, typically used for measuring energy consumption of large cities, industrial processes, or natural phenomena.

The terajoule emerged as energy consumption and production reached massive scales in the 20th century. It became necessary for describing energy in large power plants, national energy statistics, and major industrial processes where smaller units would result in unwieldy numbers.

Terajoules are used for measuring energy consumption of large cities, output of major power plants, industrial energy usage, and in energy policy and planning. They're standard in national energy statistics, large-scale renewable energy projects, and major industrial facility energy audits.