Ounces-force to Newtons (ozf to N)

1 ounce-force equals 0.278013851 newtons (rounded).

1 ounce-force = 0.278013851 newtons

How to convert ounces-force to newtons

To convert ounces-force to newtons, multiply the number of ounces-force by 0.278013851. The factor is rounded to 10 significant digits. To go the other way, multiply newtons by 3.59694309 (rounded).

newtons = ounces-force × 0.278013851

Example: 10 ounces-force = 2.78013851 newtons.

About these units

Ounce-force (ozf)

US & ImperialCurrent unit

One sixteenth of a pound-force (0.278 N).

Defined as a sixteenth of a pound-force, the ounce-force is a small US customary unit of force. The pound-force is 0.45359237 kg times standard gravity of 9.80665 m/s2, which gives 4.4482216 N, so the ounce-force comes to about 0.2780139 N. NIST lists the same factor, and it is the figure used here.

The name borrows from the avoirdupois ounce, so the unit measures the weight of that much mass under standard gravity rather than a separate invented quantity. Twelve ounces-force is three quarters of a pound-force, about 3.34 N, and sixteen make a pound-force. NIST advises against using such non-SI units in its own publications, and the metric equivalent for light forces is the millinewton, since one ounce-force is roughly 278 mN.

1 ounce-force = 0.278013851 newtons (approximately).

Sources: NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8; Wikipedia: Pound (force)

Newton (N)

Metric (SI)Current unit

The SI unit of force: the force that accelerates one kilogram by one meter per second squared. About the weight of a small apple.

Isaac Newton gave his name to the unit for his second law of motion, force equals mass times acceleration. Metric engineers needed a force unit that fitted the metre-kilogram-second system, and the CGPM standardized one in 1946; the 9th CGPM in 1948 adopted the name newton, with symbol N. Before that, many metric users measured force in kilograms-force, which confuses weight with mass, and CGS users had the much smaller dyne.

One newton is the force that gives a one-kilogram mass an acceleration of one meter per second every second. For scale, a 200-gram apple weighs about 1.96 N on Earth, so a newton is roughly the weight of a small apple. It equals 100,000 dynes and about 0.225 pound-force. Forces in the thousands are written in kilonewtons. Because the newton is built directly from kilograms, meters and seconds, it slots into formulas for pressure, energy and power without any conversion constants.

The newton is the reference unit for force on this site.

Sources: Wikipedia: Newton (unit); BIPM: 9th CGPM (1948), Resolution 7; Wikipedia: Centimetre-gram-second system of units

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