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The pound-force is equal to the gravitational force exerted on a mass of one avoirdupois pound on the surface of Earth.Since the 18th century, the unit has been used in low-precision measurements, for which small changes in Earth's gravity (which varies from equator to pole by up to half a percent) can safely be neglected.
Systems of measure either define mass and derive a force unit or define a base force and derive a mass unit [1] (cf. poundal, a derived unit of force in a mass-based system). A slug is defined as a mass that is accelerated by 1 ft/s 2 when a net force of one pound (lbf) is exerted on it. [2]
Units for other physical quantities are derived from this set as needed. In English Engineering Units, the pound-mass and the pound-force are distinct base units, and Newton's Second Law of Motion takes the form = where is the acceleration in ft/s 2 and g c = 32.174 lb·ft/(lbf·s 2).
In United States customary units, the pound can be either a unit of force or a unit of mass. [24] Related units used in some distinct, separate subsystems of units include the poundal and the slug. The poundal is defined as the force necessary to accelerate an object of one-pound mass at 1 ft/s 2, and is equivalent to about 1/32.2 of a pound-force.
The pound-force provides an alternative unit of mass: one slug is the mass that will accelerate by one foot per second squared when acted on by one pound-force. [58] An alternative unit of force in a different foot–pound–second system, the absolute fps system, is the poundal , defined as the force required to accelerate a one-pound mass at ...
Together with the fact that the term "weight" is used for the gravitational force in some technical contexts (physics, engineering) and for mass in others (commerce, law), [10] and that the distinction often does not matter in practice, the coexistence of variants of the FPS system causes confusion over the nature of the unit "pound".
Meaning SI unit of measure alpha: alpha particle: angular acceleration: radian per second squared (rad/s 2) fine-structure constant: unitless beta: velocity in terms of the speed of light c: unitless beta particle: gamma: Lorentz factor: unitless photon: gamma ray: shear strain: radian
Although the pound-force is a coherent derived unit in this system according to the official definition, the system itself is not considered to be coherent because of the presence of the proportionality constant in the force law. A variant of this system applies the unit s 2 /ft to the proportionality constant. This has the effect of ...