Centigram To Kilogram Converter

1. Keep Centigrams to kilograms, or choose kg to cg to go back, or cg to g for a quick gram value.
2. Type the mass. Whole numbers and decimals both work.
3. Read the main result, then the grams, milligrams, ounces, grains and carats in the cards below it.

A centigram (symbol cg) is a metric unit of mass equal to one hundredth of a gram. That is 10 milligrams, or 0.00001 kilogram. The name joins the SI prefix centi, meaning 10^-2, to the gram.

NIST uses the centigram as its example unit for the prefix centi in its table of metric prefixes. Centi is also one of the eight original prefixes adopted in 1795, alongside deci and milli. Its symbol is a lowercase c.

The SI attaches mass prefixes to the gram, not to the kilogram. NIST SP 330 states this rule. It is why 10^-6 kg is written as a milligram and 10^-5 kg as a centigram.

You rarely see cg printed on a label. You meet its size often, though. A balance that reads to 0.01 g is counting one centigram per step.

You divide by 100,000. A kilogram holds 1,000 grams and each gram holds 100 centigrams, and 1,000 x 100 = 100,000.

1. Write the centigrams, for example 480.
2. Move the decimal point 5 places to the left, adding zeros in front as needed: 480 becomes 0.0048.
3. Label it kg. In powers of ten, centi is 10^-2 g and kilo is 10^3 g, so the gap is 10^5.

The tool does this shift on the text you typed. It never multiplies by a binary fraction, so 0.3 cg shows as 0.000003 kg and not as a long string of stray digits.

A round amount. 25,000 cg / 100,000 = 0.25 kg, which is 250 g.

A small reading. 480 cg is 0.0048 kg, or 4.8 g. In US units that is about 0.1693 oz.

Reverse. 0.75 kg x 100,000 = 75,000 cg.

From a 0.01 g balance. A balance shows 3.65 g. Each 0.01 g step is 1 cg, so that is 365 cg, or 0.00365 kg. For recipe checks, the grams to ounces converter handles the gram value directly.

The factor of 100,000 never changes. These four points decide the figure you end up writing down.

Balance Resolution

A balance that reads to 0.01 g resolves 1 cg. One that reads to 0.1 g cannot tell 12 cg from 17 cg, so extra decimals would be invented.

Centigram or Centimeter

cg is a mass. cm is a length. They share a prefix and nothing else, and no factor links them.

Leading Zeros

A small centigram value in kilograms carries several zeros after the point. Dropping one gives a figure ten times too big. The scientific card guards against that.

Decimal Comma

In many European documents 2,5 cg means two and a half centigrams. This page uses a decimal point and commas for thousands.

The centigram sits in the middle of the three gram subunits that step down by tens: deci, centi and milli.

The next step up is covered by the decigram to kilogram converter. A metric carat is 200 mg, or 20 cg, and the carat to kilogram converter covers gem weights. The metric converter handles any prefix pair.

Metric Place-value Lessons

Centigrams fill the hundredths place on the metric ladder. Turning them into kilograms shows that five steps of ten make 100,000.

Reading Hundredth-of-a-gram Balances

A pocket or school balance with two decimals of a gram counts in centigrams without saying so. Each step is one centigram, which helps when a form asks for kilograms.

Checking Older Tables and Textbooks

Some science texts and older data tables list cg. Converting to kg or g puts the value into the units most people use today.

Each row is computed from 1 cg = 0.00001 kg = 0.01 g = 10 mg. Ounces use the avoirdupois ounce, 28.349523125 g exactly, rounded to 4 decimals.

1. Dividing by 1,000

That turns grams into kilograms. Centigrams need 100,000.

2. Dividing by 10,000

That is the decigram factor. A centigram is ten times smaller than a decigram.

3. Moving the Decimal Point the Wrong Way

Kilograms are a bigger unit, so the number must get smaller. 50 cg is 0.0005 kg, not 5,000,000 kg.

4. Reading Cg as CL

cL is the centiliter, a volume. You cannot turn it into a mass without a density.

5. Writing the Symbol with Capitals

The symbol is a lowercase cg. Capital letters mean other things in the SI: C is the coulomb and G is the prefix giga.

The conversion itself is exact. Your answer can only be as precise as the balance or table the number came from.

There are exactly 100,000 centigrams in 1 kilogram, because 1 kg is 1,000 g and each gram is 100 cg.

Yes. One centigram is exactly 0.01 g, which is 10 mg.

Five hundred centigrams is 0.005 kg, or 5 g.

There are 10 milligrams in one centigram.

One pound is 453.59237 g, so it holds 45,359.237 cg.

One centigram is about 0.1543 grain, since a grain is 64.79891 mg.

A centigram is bigger. One centigram equals 10 milligrams.

Most labels and recipes jump from milligrams to grams to kilograms. The centigram stays correct SI, but everyday practice skips it.

Use a lowercase cg with no period and a space after the number, as in 25 cg.

No. The converter runs in your browser and nothing goes to our servers. Saved results stay in this browser only.

• Metric SI prefixes, with centigram as the example for centi and the 1795 prefix history (NIST Office of Weights and Measures).
• Rule that mass prefixes attach to the gram, and the SI prefix table (NIST SP 330, Section 3).
• Conversion factors for the metric carat, grain and avoirdupois ounce (NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8).
• SI prefixes table, centi c = 10^-2 (BIPM, International Bureau of Weights and Measures).