Calories are units of energy. We often associate calories with food, but in fact they apply to anything that contains energy. For example, 4 liters of gasoline contains about 3 10/00000 calories. With the heat in the 2 17 Big Mac, you can drive 35 kilometers. Simply put, 1 calorie of energy or heat can raise the temperature of 1 gram of water by 1 degree Celsius at one atmospheric pressure. 1 calorie is approximately equal to 4. 186 joules (joules are commonly used units of energy in physics).