- published: 12 Oct 2015
- views: 8759
The pound or pound force (symbol: lb, lbf, lbf) is a unit of force in some systems of measurement including English engineering units and British gravitational units.
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 place to place by up to half a percent) can safely be neglected.
The 20th century, however, brought the need for a more precise definition. A standardized value for acceleration due to gravity was therefore needed. Today, in accordance with the General Conference on Weights and Measures, standard gravity is usually taken to be 9.80665 m/s2 (32.174 049 ft/s2).
The acceleration of the standard gravitational field (gn) and the international avoirdupois pound (lbm) define the pound-force as:
This definition can be rephrased in terms of the slug. A slug has a mass unit equivalent of 32.174049 lbm. A pound-force is the amount of force required to accelerate a slug at a rate of 1 ft/s2, so: