pound-force

English

Etymology

From pound +‎ force, to differentiate from the unit of mass.

Noun

pound-force (plural pounds-force)

  1. A unit of force equal to the weight, on earth (subject to standard gravity), of a mass of one avoirdupois pound, equal to about 4.44822 newtons. Symbol lbf or lbf.
    • 2000 October 9, Gérard P. Michon, “What is a slug, in the [engineering] weight measurement system?”, in Numericana.com[1]:
      The slug is defined as the mass which would accelerate at a rate of 1 ft/s2 under a force of one pound-force (lbf). Since 1 lbf is the force exerted on a mass of one pound by a standard gravitational field (of exactly 9.80665 meters per square second), a slug is thus exactly equal to 196133/6096 pounds (about 32.1740485564 lb or 14.593902937206 kg).

See also