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A newton is defined as 1 kg⋅m/s 2 (it is a named derived unit defined in terms of the SI base units). [1]: 137 One newton is, therefore, the force needed to accelerate one kilogram of mass at the rate of one metre per second squared in the direction of the applied force.
Under Sir Isaac Newton's 338-year-old laws of motion and an important formula that sprang from his work, F = ma, an object with a mass, m, of one kilogram accelerates, a, at one meter per second per second (about one-tenth the acceleration due to Earth's gravity) [4] when acted upon by a force, F, of one newton.
This is convenient because one pound mass exerts one pound force due to gravity. Note, however, unlike the other systems the force unit is not equal to the mass unit multiplied by the acceleration unit [ 11 ] —the use of Newton's second law , F = m ⋅ a , requires another factor, g c , usually taken to be 32.174049 (lb⋅ft)/(lbf⋅s 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).
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 slug is defined as the amount of mass that accelerates at 1 ft/s 2 when one pound-force is exerted on it, and is equivalent to about 32.2 pounds (mass).
In engineering and physics, g c is a unit conversion factor used to convert mass to force or vice versa. [1] It is defined as = In unit systems where force is a derived unit, like in SI units, g c is equal to 1.
The specific weight, also known as the unit weight (symbol γ, the Greek letter gamma), is a volume-specific quantity defined as the weight W divided by the volume V of a material: = / Equivalently, it may also be formulated as the product of density, ρ, and gravity acceleration, g: = Its unit of measurement in the International System of Units (SI) is newton per cubic metre (N/m 3), with ...
To make this into an equal-sided formula or equation, there needed to be a multiplying factor or constant that would give the correct force of gravity no matter the value of the masses or distance between them (the gravitational constant). Newton would need an accurate measure of this constant to prove his inverse-square law.