At One Place

Things measured in refrigerators

One refrigerator
70–170 kg
Used here as a unit of mass

A refrigerator weighs about 70–170 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 refrigerators

One refrigerator = 70–170 kg. Figures carry their own ranges on their own pages.
Thing Mass In refrigerators
hospital bed 80–230 kg 1.18 refrigerator
llama 110–200 kg 1.18 refrigerator
server rack 60–220 kg 1.18 refrigerator
pig 50–350 kg 1.09 refrigerator
garage door 50–260 kg 1.09 refrigerator
reindeer 60–318 kg 1.09 refrigerator
ostrich 63–156 kg 1.00 refrigerator
photocopier 30–250 kg 1.00 refrigerator
giant panda 70–125 kg 1.10 of these per refrigerator
jaguar 45–120 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
treadmill 40–200 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
wild boar 50–200 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
English mastiff 54–113 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
safe 15–500 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
elliptical trainer 45–180 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator
snow blower 14–145 kg 1.22 of these per refrigerator

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 refrigerator 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 refrigerator weigh?
70–170 kg
Why compare things to refrigerators?
Because most people have no calibrated sense of large absolute figures. A familiar object borrows intuition from something already known.

Related pages

Sources

  1. Typical range compiled from manufacturer specifications — At One Place

How these figures are compiled and checked