Determine the weight in newtons of a car whose mass is 1400 kg. Convert
the mass of the car to slugs and then determine its weight in pounds.
Solution. From relationship 1/3, we have
Ans.
From the table of conversion factors inside the front cover of the textbook, we
see that 1 slug is equal to 14.594 kg. Thus, the mass of the car in slugs is
Ans.
Finally, its weight in pounds is
Ans.
As another route to the last result, we can convert from kg to lbm. Again using
the table inside the front cover, we have
The weight in pounds associated with the mass of 3090 lbm is 3090 lb, as calculated
above. We recall that 1 lbm is the amount of mass which under standard
conditions has a weight of 1 lb of force. We rarely refer to the U.S. mass unit lbm
in this textbook series, but rather use the slug for mass. The sole use of slug,
rather than the unnecessary use of two units for mass, will prove to be powerful
and simple—especially in dynamics.