Estimating weight

In your book, Maths Mela (Chapter 8), we estimate weights: we make a sensible guess before weighing. The book shows an ant, a squirrel, a dog, an elephant and a giraffe. From heaviest to lightest they go: elephant, giraffe, dog, squirrel, ant. A giraffe is very tall, but an elephant is heavier.

The book asks you to guess whether 6 bananas, 5 potatoes, 10 tomatoes or 15 onions weigh less or more than 1 kg, and then check on a weighing balance. A good way to guess is to remember how heavy the 1 kg salt packet feels in your hand, and compare.

The book also matches things with their weights. A leaf weighs about 1 g to 5 g. A pen weighs about 10 g to 15 g. A cat weighs about 3 kg to 5 kg. A wooden chair weighs about 6 kg to 10 kg. An empty gas cylinder weighs about 15 kg. A tiger weighs about 150 kg to 300 kg, and an elephant weighs more than 1000 kg!

Notice that light things, like a leaf and a pen, have weights in grams, and heavy things, like a cat or a tiger, have weights in kilograms.