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submitted 8 months ago by fossilesque@mander.xyz to c/science_memes@mander.xyz

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[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 1 points 8 months ago

The article you linked to does not mention at any point that LBS is a mass, or at all uses the word mass at any point throughout. In fact, it breifly at the end mentions "1 lb=0.45359237 kilogram" as well as "1 Newton=0.224809 pound force" which could indicate a difference between LBF and LBM distinctions.

It's commonly understood that you will weigh a different amount of lbs on the moon than on earth. Because it isn't a mass. It's a force of gravity.

There is also evidence in the form of lbs/in^2 being a common measurement, which would be completely nonsense in the context of mass.

[-] lightnegative@lemmy.world 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

I love educational threads like these.

Even though the original point was "using international standard units makes it clearer for everyone"

[-] FiniteBanjo@lemmy.today 1 points 8 months ago

Yeah it is pretty fun.

[-] HopFlop@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 8 months ago

Alright, lets look at the US Customary Units and their definitions. Here is the section called "Mass and Weight". As you can see, everything is defined in metric units of mass. You won't find even pound-force to be part of the Customary units. I couldn't find any source saying that pound (not "pound-force") is a unit of force. However, there was an agreement (I think in 1955) to define the pound in kg.

it breifly at the end mentions "1 lb=0.45359237 kilogram" as well as "1 Newton=0.224809 pound force"

That basically implies that lb (pound, imperial unit) is a unit of mass and "pound-force" (non-imperial unit, part of the British Engineering Units) is a unit of force. Thus, pound (on its own) is a unit of mass, right?