Force Converter
Force is a push or pull that acts on an object, measured in SI units as the newton (N), defined as the force that accelerates a one-kilogram mass at one metre per second squared. In practice, engineering work spans a huge range of magnitudes: the thread tension in a sewing machine might be measured in millinewtons, the load on a building column in kilonewtons, and the thrust of a large rocket in meganewtons. Meanwhile, much of the structural and mechanical engineering literature written before metrication, particularly from the United States and United Kingdom, uses imperial and customary units such as pounds-force (lbf), kips (kilopounds-force), and ounce-force. This converter handles the full range of common force units in one place. Select the unit you are converting from, enter your value, and all other units update instantly. The units covered are newton (N), kilonewton (kN), meganewton (MN), millinewton (mN), pound-force (lbf), kilogram-force (kgf), kip (1000 lbf), and dyne (the CGS unit, 10 to the minus 5 newtons). All conversions are exact within double-precision arithmetic and are based on the exact definition that one pound-force equals 4.44822162 newtons.
How it works
All conversions use newtons as the base unit. Conversion factors: 1 kN = 1000 N; 1 MN = 1,000,000 N; 1 mN = 0.001 N; 1 lbf = 4.44822 N; 1 kgf = 9.80665 N; 1 kip = 4448.22 N; 1 dyne = 0.00001 N. The input value is first converted to newtons, then divided by each factor to produce the remaining units.
Worked example
Convert 1 kN to other units. 1 kN = 1000 N. Divided by 4.44822 = 224.81 lbf. Divided by 9.80665 = 101.97 kgf. Divided by 4448.22 = 0.2248 kip. Divided by 0.00001 = 100,000,000 dyne = 1.00 times 10 to the 8 dyne.
Related calculators
- Force Calculator: compute force, mass, or acceleration from Newton's second law.
- Torque Converter: convert between N·m, ft·lb, in·lb, and kgf·m.
- Pressure Converter: convert between pascals, bar, psi, and other pressure units.
- Stress and Strain Calculator: use force and area to find stress in MPa and derive Young's modulus.