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Chapter 2 Review of Forces and Moments - Brown University

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US units have a frightfully confusing way <strong>of</strong> representing mass – <strong>of</strong>ten the mass <strong>of</strong> an object is reported<br />

as weight, in lb or lbm (the latter is an abbreviation for pound mass). The weight <strong>of</strong> an object in lb is not<br />

mass at all – it’s actually the gravitational force acting on the mass. Therefore, the mass <strong>of</strong> an object in<br />

slugs must be computed from its weight in pounds using the formula<br />

W (lb)<br />

m(slugs)<br />

=<br />

2<br />

g(ft/s )<br />

where g=32.1740 ft/s 2 is the acceleration due to gravity.<br />

A force <strong>of</strong> 1 lb(f) causes a mass <strong>of</strong> 1 lb(m) to accelerate at 32.1740 ft/s 2<br />

The conversion factors from lb to N are<br />

1 lb = 4.448 N<br />

1 N = 0.2248 lb<br />

(www.onlineconversion.com is a h<strong>and</strong>y resource, as long as you can tolerate all the hideous<br />

advertisements…)<br />

As a rough guide, a force <strong>of</strong> 1N is about equal to the weight <strong>of</strong> a medium sized apple. A few typical force<br />

magnitudes (from `The Sizesaurus’, by Stephen Strauss, Avon Books, NY, 1997) are listed in the table<br />

below<br />

Force Newtons Pounds Force<br />

Gravitational Pull <strong>of</strong> the Sun on Earth 22<br />

3.5×<br />

10<br />

21<br />

7.9×<br />

10<br />

Gravitational Pull <strong>of</strong> the Earth on the Moon 20<br />

2×<br />

10<br />

19<br />

4.5×<br />

10<br />

Thrust <strong>of</strong> a Saturn V rocket engine 7<br />

3.3×<br />

10<br />

6<br />

7.4×<br />

10<br />

Thrust <strong>of</strong> a large jet engine 5<br />

7.7×<br />

10<br />

5<br />

1.7×<br />

10<br />

Pull <strong>of</strong> a large locomotive 5<br />

5×<br />

10<br />

5<br />

1.1×<br />

10<br />

Force between two protons in a nucleus 4<br />

10<br />

3<br />

10<br />

Gravitational pull <strong>of</strong> the earth on a person 2<br />

7.3×<br />

10<br />

2<br />

1.6×<br />

10<br />

Maximum force exerted upwards by a forearm 2<br />

2.7× 10 60<br />

Gravitational pull <strong>of</strong> the earth on a 5 cent coin 2<br />

5.1×<br />

10 − 1.1×<br />

10 −2<br />

Force between an electron <strong>and</strong> the nucleus <strong>of</strong> a Hydrogen atom 6<br />

8×<br />

10 − 1.8×<br />

10 −8

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