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Re: [Phys-l] Pound mass or weight?

On Nov. 5, 2008 Vern Lindberg wrote:

Of course you could measure mass in pounds and force in poundals. Does
anyone else remember that system?

Yes, I remember it being mentioned as one possible engineering system of
units in our beginning college physics course (1959). The course,
intended for physics majors, actually used the absolute c.g.s.
(centimeter, gram, second) system. We were also told that in another
engineering system of units, the British Engineering system of units
(B.E.), the pound was "treated" as a unit of force although by "legal"
definition it was a unit of mass. Therefore, in the B.E. system mass
(in slugs) was defined as the weight divided by the acceleration of
gravity. Currently (2008), here at work engineers still compute forces
in pounds and mass in slugs as in the B.E. system, but I have never seen
anyone use the poundal.

Don

Don Polvani
Northrop Grumman Corp.
Undersea Systems
Annapolis, MD