Convert erg to joule

The calorie of food labels is really the kilocalorie: 1 kcal = 1,000 cal = 4.1868 kJ, the heat that warms a kilogram of water by one degree. Nutrition labels in the EU must give both kJ and kcal, the US gives 'Calories' with a capital C meaning kcal, and the adult reference intake is 2,000 kcal, about 8,400 kJ. A slice of bread is around 80 kcal, an hour's brisk walk burns about 300.

The centimetre-gram-second system preceded the SI and its units linger in physics: the dyne is the force that accelerates one gram at 1 cm/s² (10⁻⁵ N), and the erg the work of one dyne over one centimetre (10⁻⁷ J), about the energy of a mosquito's wing beat. Astrophysics still writes luminosities in erg/s (the Sun: 3.8 × 10³³ erg/s), and surface tension is often quoted in dyn/cm, which equals mN/m.