British thermal unit

"BTU" redirects here. For other uses, see BTU (disambiguation).

The British thermal unit (Btu) is a measure of heat, which is a form of energy. It was originally defined as the amount of heat required to raise the temperature of one pound of water by one degree Fahrenheit. It is also part of the United States customary units.[1] The SI unit for energy is the joule (J); one Btu equals about 1,055 J (varying within the range of 1,054–1,060 J depending on the specific definition of BTU; see below).

While units of heat are often supplanted by energy units in scientific work, they are still used in some fields. For example, in the United States the price of natural gas is quoted in dollars per the amount of natural gas that would give 1 million Btu (1 "MMBtu") of heat energy if burned.[2][3]

  1. ^ In a short note, Woledge notes that the actual technical term "British thermal unit" apparently originated in the United States, and was subsequently adopted in Great Britain. See Woledge, G. (30 May 1942). "History of the British Thermal Unit". Nature. 149 (149): 613. Bibcode:1942Natur.149..613W. doi:10.1038/149613c0. S2CID 4104904.
  2. ^ "Henry Hub Natural Gas Spot Price". U.S. Energy Information Administration. Archived from the original on 1 August 2017.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference HenryHub was invoked but never defined (see the help page).