Poundal: Absolute English Units Force PDL

Poundal
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The poundal (symbol: pdl) is a unit of force that is part of the foot
poundsecond system of units, in Imperial units introduced in 1877, Poundal
and is from the specialized subsystem of English absolute (a coherent Unit system Absolute English
system). units
Unit of Force
Symbol pdl
The poundal is defined as the force necessary to accelerate 1 pound- Unit conversions
mass at 1 foot per second per second. 1 pdl = 0.138 254 954 376 N 1 pdl in ... ... is equal to ...
exactly.
SI units 0.1382550 N
CGS units 13,825.50 dyn
Contents British 0.03108095 lbf

Gravitational units
1 Background
2 Conversion
3 See also
4 References
Background
English units require re-scaling of either force or mass to eliminate a numerical proportionality constant in the
equation F = ma. The poundal represents one choice, which is to rescale units of force. Since a pound of force
(pound force) accelerates a pound of mass (pound mass) at 32.174 049 ft/s2 (9.80665 m/s2; the acceleration of
gravity, g), we can scale down the unit of force to compensate, giving us one that accelerates 1 pound mass at
1 ft/s2 rather than at 32.174 049 ft/s2; and that is the poundal, which is approximately 132 of a pound force.
For example, a force of 1200 poundals is required to accelerate a person of 150 pounds mass at 8 feet per
second squared:
Three approaches to units of mass and force or weight
Base units Force, length, time Weight, length, time Mass, length, time
2nd Law of F wa
m= a F= g F = ma
Motion c
System BG GM EE M AE CGS MTS SI
Acceleration (a) ft/s2 m/s2 ft/s2 m/s2 ft/s2 Gal m/s2 m/s2
Mass (m) slug hyl lb g t kg
Force (F), lb kg
lb kp pdl dyn sn N
Weight (w)
Pressure (p) lb/in2 at psi atm pdl/ft2 Ba pz Pa

The poundal-as-force, pound-as-mass system is contrasted with an alternative system in which pounds are used
as force (pounds-force), and instead, the mass unit is rescaled by a factor of roughly 32. 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/s2 (rather than 32 ft/s2) given the application of one pound force;
this gives us a unit of mass called the slug, which is about 32 pounds mass. Using this system (slugs and
pounds-force), the above expression could be expressed as:
Note: Slugs (32.174 049 lb) and poundals (1/32.174 049 lbf) are never used in the same system, since they are
opposite solutions of the same problem.
Rather than changing either force or mass units, one may choose to express acceleration in units of the
acceleration due to Earth's gravity (called g). In this case, we can keep both pounds-mass and pounds-force,
such that applying one pound force to one pound mass accelerates it at one unit of acceleration (g):
Expressions derived using poundals for force and lb for mass (or lbf for force and slugs for mass) have the
advantage of not being tied to conditions on the surface of the earth. Specifically, computing F = ma on the
moon or in deep space as poundals, lbft/s2 or lbf = slugft/s2, avoids the constant tied to acceleration of gravity
on earth.
Conversion
Units of force
newton kilogram-force,
dyne pound-force poundal
(SI unit) kilopond
1N 1 kgm/s2 = 105 dyn 0.10197 kp 0.22481 lbf 7.2330 pdl
1 dyn = 105 N 1 gcm/s2 1.0197 106 kp 2.2481 106 lbf 7.2330 105 pdl
1 kp = 9.80665 N = 980665 dyn gn(1 kg) 2.2046 lbf 70.932 pdl
1 lbf 4.448222 N 444822 dyn 0.45359 kp gn(1 lb) 32.174 pdl
1 pdl 0.138255 N 13825 dyn 0.014098 kp 0.031081 lbf 1 lbft/s2

The value of gn as used in the official definition of the kilogram-force is used here for all gravitational units.
See also
Slug (mass)
References
Obert, Edward F., Thermodynamics, McGraw-Hill Book Company Inc., New York 1948; Chapter I,
Survey of Dimensions and Units, pages 124.
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poundal&oldid=779573860"
This page was last edited on 9 May 2017, at 18:29.

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Poundal

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Contents British 0.03108095 lbf

Three approaches to units of mass and force or weight

System BG GM EE M AE CGS MTS SI

Mass (m) slug hyl lb g t kg

Pressure (p) lb/in2 at psi atm pdl/ft2 Ba pz Pa

1N 1 kgm/s2 = 105 dyn 0.10197 kp 0.22481 lbf 7.2330 pdl

1 kp = 9.80665 N = 980665 dyn gn(1 kg) 2.2046 lbf 70.932 pdl

1 lbf 4.448222 N 444822 dyn 0.45359 kp gn(1 lb) 32.174 pdl

1 pdl 0.138255 N 13825 dyn 0.014098 kp 0.031081 lbf 1 lbft/s2

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Poundal&oldid=779573860"

This page was last edited on 9 May 2017, at 18:29.

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