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cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro to BonezX

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to BonezX

Re: Weights and measures

said by BonezX:

i love when people apply Imperial theory to SI units, it just makes my day.
an LB is a force

Actually a lb is a unit for MASS not for force.
1lb is defined as 0.45359237 kilograms.
said by BonezX:

Imperial units are arbitrary, where SI units are standardized.

They are not arbitrary at all. Not any more than SI units. There is a strong, well-defined relationship between imperial and SI units.

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

2 edits

DataRiker

Premium Member

The term pound can refer to a mass or a force. The unqualified term "pound" is ambiguous.

If one wishes to be unambiguous you can refer to either a pound-mass or pound-force.

Or just use the SI units since they are designed to be unambiguous.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro

Premium Member

said by DataRiker:

Since the term pound is unqualified it can refer to a mass or a force.

The term pound denotes a mass (when we are talking about "weights"). The pound-force term denotes the gravitational force exerted by a 1lb mass on Earth.

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

4 edits

DataRiker

Premium Member

Weight is a force, so if your going to use some subjective context for reference (which is unwise) lb force would be more fitting.

Since neither of you used "pound-force" [lbf] or "pound-mass" [lbm], any argument that one definition is more correct than the other is extremely silly.

The unqualified "pound" should never ever be used in anything but the most informal oral conversations.


BonezX
Basement Dweller
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join:2004-04-13
Canada

BonezX to cowboyro

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to cowboyro
said by cowboyro:

said by DataRiker:

Since the term pound is unqualified it can refer to a mass or a force.

The term pound denotes a mass (when we are talking about "weights"). The pound-force term denotes the gravitational force exerted by a 1lb mass on Earth.

LB is a measurement of force(weight is called the normal force of an object fyi), the imperial measurement of mass is the slug.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro

Premium Member

said by BonezX:

said by cowboyro:

said by DataRiker:

Since the term pound is unqualified it can refer to a mass or a force.

The term pound denotes a mass (when we are talking about "weights"). The pound-force term denotes the gravitational force exerted by a 1lb mass on Earth.

LB is a measurement of force(weight is called the normal force of an object fyi), the imperial measurement of mass is the slug.

According to NIST it's officially defined as a unit of mass. What some people use it as has no bearing over the official definition.

BonezX
Basement Dweller
Premium Member
join:2004-04-13
Canada

BonezX

Premium Member

said by cowboyro:

According to NIST it's officially defined as a unit of mass. What some people use it as has no bearing over the official definition.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl ··· 8mass%29
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No ··· al_force

might want to also look outside the united states of stuck in the past, if you did calculations in the scientific community, or about ~90% of the countries in the world in lb you would be laughed at.

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

3 edits

DataRiker to cowboyro

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to cowboyro
said by cowboyro:

According to NIST it's officially defined as a unit of mass. What some people use it as has no bearing over the official definition.

This is a rather silly point since force is defined using mass.

When you understand your circular reasoning get back to me.

cowboyro
Premium Member
join:2000-10-11
CT

cowboyro to BonezX

Premium Member

to BonezX
said by BonezX:

said by cowboyro:

According to NIST it's officially defined as a unit of mass. What some people use it as has no bearing over the official definition.

»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sl ··· 8mass%29
»en.wikipedia.org/wiki/No ··· al_force

might want to also look outside the united states of stuck in the past, if you did calculations in the scientific community, or about ~90% of the countries in the world in lb you would be laughed at.

The pound is the official unit for mass. Not force, mass.
The slug is a derived unit that makes the 1:1 translation between units of time, length and force so that F=m*a

DataRiker
Premium Member
join:2002-05-19
00000

4 edits

DataRiker

Premium Member

Force is defined using mass.

If you use pound in science, you will be immediately asked to clarify if you mean force or mass.