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There is no more confusing a topic in weights and measures than in the realm of weight, mass, and force. The main reason for the confusion is the unfortunate duplicate use of units for both weight and mass. This has happened because scientists and non-scientists have not had the same definitions for common words, such as pound and kilogram. This problem has been aggravated by the recent push to introduce NEW jargon, which was done to reduce confusion but has created more -- at least in the short term. I hope that once the new jargon takes hold, it will be reduce the confusion. The newton (N) is smaller than a pound(or pound-force). One newton is equal to 0.2248 pound, so it's not quite a quarter of a pound. In other words, it's less than four ounces.

The force applied to an object is calculated by multiplying its mass by its acceleration. Since the fundamental SI unit of mass is the kilogram (kg), and the unit of acceleration is the meter per second squared (m/s2), we can say the unit of force is the kilogram-meter per second squared (kg-m/s2). But that's a mouthful. So instead of saying that, we call it a newton. If an object with a mass of 1 kg accelerates at 1 m/s2, we know that the sum of the forces acting on the object is 1 newton (N) -- because one times one is one! So, what is the weight of an object with a mass of one kilogram? Since the acceleration due to gravity is 9.8 m/s2, we can say the object weighs 9.8 N.

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16y ago

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