cal·o·rif·ic / ˌkaləˈrifik/ • adj. chiefly Brit. relating to the amount of energy contained in food or fuel: she knew the calorific contents of every morsel. ∎  (of food or drink) containing many calories and so likely to be fattening.DERIVATIVES: cal·o·rif·i·cal·ly / -ik(ə)lē/ adv.

calorific value The gross calorific value of a substance is the number of heat units that are liberated when a unit weight of that substance is burned in oxygen, and the residual materials are oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen, water, and ash. The energy content of biological materials has been expressed traditionally in calories (c) or kilocalories (C) per gram dry weight. Sometimes results are expressed more significantly in terms of ash-free dry weight, i.e. in terms of organic constituents only. Contemporary studies of ecological energetics express results in terms of the SI energy unit, the joule (4,182 J = 1 calorie).

calorific value The gross calorific value of a substance is the number of heat units that are liberated when a unit weight of that substance is burned in oxygen, and the residual materials are oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen, water, and ash. The energy content of biological materials has been expressed traditionally in calories (c) or kilocalories (C) per gram dry weight. Sometimes results are expressed more significantly in terms of ash-free dry weight (i.e. in terms of organic constituents only). Contemporary studies of ecological energetics express results in terms of the SI energy unit, the joule (4.182 J = 1 calorie).

calorific value The gross calorific value of a substance is the number of heat units that are liberated when a unit weight of that substance is burned in oxygen, and the residual materials are oxygen, carbon dioxide, sulphur dioxide, nitrogen, water, and ash. The energy content of biological materials has been expressed traditionally in calories (c) or kilocalories (C) per gram dry weight. Sometimes results are expressed more significantly in terms of ash-free dry weight, i.e. in terms of organic constituents only. Contemporary studies of ecological energetics express results in terms of the SI energy unit, the joule (4.182 J = 1 calorie).

calorific value The heat per unit mass produced by complete combustion of a given substance. Calorific values are used to express the energy values of fuels; usually these are expressed in megajoules per kilogram (MJ kg^–1). They are also used to measure the energy content of foodstuffs; i.e. the energy produced when the food is oxidized in the body. The units here are kilojoules per gram (kJ g^–1), although Calories (kilocalories) are often still used in nontechnical contexts.