Things measured in mattresses
A mattress weighs about 18–100 kg, which makes it a usable informal unit — "three elephants" lands where a raw figure in kg does not. Every comparison below is computed from a sourced figure rather than an invented average.
Things measured in mattresses
| Thing | Mass | In mattresses |
|---|---|---|
| shortfin mako shark | 60–570 kg | 1.09 mattress |
| sailfish | 30–100 kg | 1.09 mattress |
| manhole cover | 30–150 kg | 1.09 mattress |
| engine block | 25–120 kg | 1.09 mattress |
| park bench | 20–250 kg | 1.09 mattress |
| leopard | 28–90 kg | 1.00 mattress |
| clothes dryer | 40–80 kg | 1.00 mattress |
| generator | 18–180 kg | 1.00 mattress |
| cheetah | 34–72 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| chimpanzee | 27–70 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| dining table | 20–120 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| rottweiler | 35–60 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| capybara | 35–66 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| recliner | 30–80 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| table saw | 20–300 kg | 1.10 of these per mattress |
| toilet | 25–70 kg | 1.22 of these per mattress |
Why informal units work
Absolute figures fail because most people have no calibrated sense of a kilogram above about the weight of a shopping bag, or of a metre above their own height. A familiar object supplies that calibration by borrowing it from something already known — which is the same reason a scale bar on a map beats a stated ratio, and why "the size of Wales" persists in journalism despite being useless to anyone who has not been there.
The figure for one mattress is itself a range rather than a constant — see its own page for the spread. These comparisons are for intuition, not measurement.
Common questions
- How much does a mattress weigh?
- 18–100 kg
- Why compare things to mattresses?
- Because most people have no calibrated sense of large absolute figures. A familiar object borrows intuition from something already known.
Related pages
- How much does a mattress weigh? Full figure and range
- Measured in school buses 6,500–12,000 kg
- Measured in city buses 11,000–20,000 kg
- Measured in African elephants 2,200–10,400 kg
- Measured in Asian elephants 2,000–6,000 kg
- Measured in blue whales 50–190 t
- Measured in giraffes 700–1,930 kg
- Measured in cars 1,100–2,100 kg
- Measured in pianos 130–550 kg
- Measured in refrigerators 70–170 kg
- Measured in washing machines 55–115 kg
Sources
- Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place