You are viewing a single thread.
View all comments
8 points
*

Pounds are a measure of weight (force) not mass like grams. Stone is the imperial measure of mass and slug is the standard unit (US unit). In metric Newtons would be equivalent to pounds.

permalink
report
reply
3 points

I came here to say this. A chunk of mass that “weighs” 100 grams is still 100 grams on the moon. A chunk of mass that weighs 1 pound does not weigh 1 pound on the moon.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

I think in most common usage people use pounds as a measure of mass (convertible to kg). It’s why when you really mean force the abbreviation lbf (pound-force) exists, as opposed to the now more usual pound-mass.

permalink
report
parent
reply
2 points

A pound at one gravity is equivalent to 2.2 kg at 1 gravity. Outside of aerospace there’s not really a need to distinguish between mass and weight so it kind of gets used interchangeably.

It just bothers me when people complain about units and then use the wrong kind of unit.

permalink
report
parent
reply
3 points

My point is that in common use a pound does refer to mass (not weight). For example the US Code defines that 1 pound = 0.453 592 37 kilogram. See also https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pound_(mass).

permalink
report
parent
reply

Memes

!memes@lemmy.ml

Create post

Rules:

  1. Be civil and nice.
  2. Try not to excessively repost, as a rule of thumb, wait at least 2 months to do it if you have to.

Community stats

  • 13K

    Monthly active users

  • 12K

    Posts

  • 259K

    Comments