Most people live their lives ignorant of what things around them weigh. While small things such as a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk are easy to comprehend, have you ever thought how much 10 tons is?
One ton is equivalent to 2000 lbs or 1000 kilograms, so to put this in perspective, 10 tons is 20000 pounds.
If an average man weighs about 200 pounds, then 100 men would weigh ten tons. If you are wondering what else weighs 10 tons, here’s a list of more items.
1. Warren Carther’s glass sculpture “Aperture”
Warren Carther is a glass artist based in Winnipeg famous for his huge glass sculptures and innovative take on and use of dichromic glass, acid-etching, and glass carving. His sculptures pay homage to architecture and are mostly features in airports.
The Aperture is on display at Winnipeg’s James Armstrong Richardson International Airport and weighs 10 tons. It consists of over 200 layers of glass and took one and a half years to make.
2. The Grand Slam Bomb
The first item on this list is a bomb designed by Sir Barnes Wallis during the second World War. He was famous for designing bombs such as the Tallboy bomb, which weighed about 6 tons, so it is not unexpected that he created a bomb almost twice as heavy as the Tallboy.
The Grand Slam weighed about 10 metric tonnes, which is 11 US tons or 22000 lbs. The Guinness Book of World Records showed it as the heaviest bomb and was even nicknamed Ten Ton Tess.
Only 40 bombs were ever made, and they were only used in 1945, the last year of the second world war. The main body of the bomb is on display at the Kelham Island Museum.
3. The British Aerospace Jetstream 41
This is a turboprop-powered feeder liner and regional plane designed by British Aerospace. The Jetstream 41 (J41) is the stretched version of the Jetstream 31, and it can carry up to 29 passengers.
The plane is 16 feet long and weighs 6.5 tons when empty but 10 tons when filled. The regional airliner flew for the first time in 1991; however, in May 1997, British Aerospace said they were terminating the model after making about 100 J41 aircrafts.
4. The Anchor of a Cruise Ship
Cruise ships are large passenger ships mainly used for vacationing. These ships embark on round-trip expeditions to various ports where passengers can go ashore and explore.
These massive ships such as the RMS Queen Elizabeth 2 have anchors that weigh up to 12 tons. The anchor of this ship now sits in front of the Holyrood Church in Southampton, England, and you can view it if you take the famous pedestrian route referred to as QE2 mile.
5. Light Military Tanks
Tanks are among the many weapons used in war, and they vary both in size and weight. In WWII, main battle tanks such as the Leopard II weighed up to 70 tons, with medium tanks weighing about 28 tons.
Light tanks such as AMX-13, on the other hand, weighed anywhere between 6 to 12 tons. However, due to technological advancements, tanks have changed and can be lighter or heavier depending on their use.
6. The African Bush Elephant
Elephants are some of the most intelligent land animals on the planet. The African Bush elephant is the heaviest elephant weighing anywhere between 6 to 7 tons, with a few reaching close to 10 tons.
It’s called the African elephant because its large ears somewhat look like the African continent. In second place is the Asian Elephant that weighs about 5.5 tons. Unlike the African elephant, the Asian one is smaller and can be identified by its smaller rounder ears.
7. Big Ben Bell
The Great Bell in the striking clock tower at the north end of the palace at Westminster is nicknamed Big Ben.
The tower that houses Big Ben was originally named the Clock Tower, but it was renamed the Elizabeth Tower to mark Queen Elizabeth’s diamond jubilee.
The bell which tolls on the hour is the largest of the five bells found in the tower and weighs 15 tons. It has been the largest bell in the United Kingdom for over two decades and has become a cultural icon recognized globally.
8. Saltasaurus
The Saltasaurus is a titanosaurid sauropod dinosaur characterized by its short neck and stubby limbs. It was the first sauropod known to have bone armor embedded in its skin.
This dinosaur’s fossils were discovered by José Fernando Bonaparte and his colleagues between 1975 and 1977. This particular dinosaur species was smaller than most Sauropoda genus members, and it is believed that the creatures weighed about 7.5 tons, with a few likely weighing up to 10 tons.
9. Semi-trucks
Trucks are great for ferrying goods all over the country. There’s a high chance that almost everything you use in your house was carried by truck at some point.
A semi-truck, more commonly referred to as a semi, weighs anywhere between 5 to 12 tons without a trailer. When hooked up to an empty trailer, they weigh 17 tons, and the maximum weight they are allowed to carry is 40 tons.
The more you look around you, you will notice things whose weight is equivalent to or close to 10 tons. This, however, isn’t a full list of all the things that weigh ten tons; there are a lot more, and with a bit of research, you might be surprised at all the items around you that weigh 20000 lbs.
