foot-poundal
Definition
- Noun:
- A unit of work or energy: The "foot-poundal" is a unit of work in the English Engineering and British Gravitational systems. It is defined as the work done when a force of one poundal acts through a displacement of one foot in the direction of the force.
Usage
- The "foot-poundal" is a technical term used primarily in physics and engineering contexts to quantify energy or work. It is part of the FPS (foot-poundal-second) system of units.
Examples
- Noun:
- The energy required to accelerate the mass was calculated to be 15 foot-poundals.
- In the FPS system, work is often expressed in foot-poundals rather than joules.
Advanced Usage
- The foot-poundal is a coherent derived unit in the foot–poundal–second system, which is a subsystem of English units.
- It is related to the more common foot-pound-force (ft·lbf). One foot-poundal is equal to approximately 0.04214011 joules or 0.03108095 foot-pounds-force.
Variants and Related Words
- Poundal (n): The unit of force in the same system; the force required to accelerate a mass of one pound at a rate of one foot per second squared.
- Foot-pound (n): A different unit of work or energy in the Foot-Pound-Second (FPS) system, where the force unit is the pound-force.
Synonyms
- Unit of work: A general term for any standard quantity used to measure work or energy (e.g., joule, erg, foot-pound).
Notes
- The foot-poundal is an obsolete unit in modern scientific contexts, having been largely replaced by the joule, the SI unit of energy.
- Its usage is now mostly historical or found in specialized textbooks discussing different systems of measurement.
Noun
-
a unit of work equal to a force of one poundal moving through a distance of one foot
