Force Converter

Force is a push or a pull, measured in SI as the newton (N). One newton is the force needed to accelerate one kilogram at one meter per second squared. A handy anchor: a medium apple held in your hand presses down with about one newton, which is roughly what Newton’s famous fruit would have weighed.

Metric conversions:

• 1 kN = 1,000 N
• 1 dyne = 0.00001 N (1 N = 100,000 dyne)

Cross-system:

• 1 N = 0.224809 lbf (pound-force)
• 1 N = 0.101972 kgf (kilogram-force)
• 1 lbf = 4.44822 N
• 1 kgf = 9.80665 N (exact, from standard gravity)

The kilogram-force and pound-force exist because people naturally think of weight in mass units. A “kilogram of force” is simply the weight of one kilogram under standard gravity.

This is the root of the most common confusion in physics: weight is a force, mass is not. A 1 kg bag of flour has a mass of 1 kg anywhere in the universe, but its weight is about 9.8 N on Earth, 1.6 N on the Moon, and zero in free fall. Bathroom scales blur the line by displaying kilograms, but what they actually sense is the force you press on them.