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The foot–pound–second system (FPS system) is a system of units built on three fundamental units: the foot for length, the (avoirdupois) pound for either mass or force (see below), and the second for time.
One slug is a mass equal to 32.17405 lb (14.59390 kg) based on standard gravity, the international foot, and the avoirdupois pound. [3] In other words, at the Earth's surface (in standard gravity), an object with a mass of 1 slug weighs approximately 32.17405 lbf or 143.1173 N. [ 4 ] [ 5 ]
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).
That is, one pound-force will accelerate one pound-mass at 32 feet per second squared; we can scale up the unit of mass to compensate, which will be accelerated by 1 ft/s 2 (rather than 32 ft/s 2) given the application of one pound force; this gives us a unit of mass called the slug, which is about 32 pounds mass.
The avoirdupois pound is legally defined as a measure of mass, [25] but the name pound is also applied to measures of force. For instance, in many contexts, the pound avoirdupois is used as a unit of mass, but in some contexts, the term "pound" is used to refer to "pound-force". The slug is another unit of mass derived from pound-force.
Force required to accelerate a mass of one pound-mass by 1 ft/s 2: 0.1383 N Force pound force: lbf BGS, EEU: Force exerted on a mass of one pound due to gravity 4.448 N Mass slug: BGS mass which, when subjected to a force of one pound-force, accelerates by 1 ft/sec 2: 14.59 kg Mass pound-mass: lbm EEU
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in both the British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly 0.453 592 37 kilograms , and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces . [ 1 ]
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).