Tonnes-force to Newtons (tf to N)
1 tonne-force equals 9,806.65 newtons exactly.
How to convert tonnes-force to newtons
To convert tonnes-force to newtons, multiply the number of tonnes-force by 9,806.65. This factor is exact. To go the other way, multiply newtons by 0.0001019716213 (rounded).
newtons = tonnes-force × 9,806.65
Example: 10 tonnes-force = 98,066.5 newtons.
About these units
Tonne-force (tf)
Exactly 9,806.65 newtons, the weight of one metric tonne at standard gravity.
Heavy structures and presses call for a force unit scaled to match, and the tonne-force supplies it: the weight of one metric tonne, which is 1,000 kilograms-force. Other names for it are metric ton-force, megagram-force and megapond. Using exactly 9.80665 newtons per kilogram-force, it comes to 9,806.65 newtons, or about 9.8 kilonewtons.
Do not confuse it with the ton-force of US customary practice. NIST gives the short ton-force, based on 2,000 pounds-force, as 8,896.443 newtons, and the metric unit is about 10 percent larger. The tonne-force belongs to the same deprecated gravitational metric family as the kilogram-force and has no place in SI, where the kilonewton and meganewton are used instead. NIST tables have no entry for the metric version, so its value here comes from the kilogram-force definition.
1 tonne-force = 9,806.65 newtons (exactly).
Sources: Wikipedia: Kilogram-force; NIST SP 811, Appendix B.8 conversion factors
Newton (N)
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
Related conversions
- Newtons to tonnes-force (reverse)
- Tonnes-force to kilonewtons
- Tonnes-force to pounds-force
- Kilonewtons to newtons
- Pounds-force to newtons
- Kilograms-force to newtons
- Meganewtons to newtons
- Millinewtons to newtons
- Ounces-force to newtons
- Grams-force to newtons
- Poundals to newtons
- Dynes to newtons
- Kips to newtons
- Tons-force (short) to newtons
- Tons-force (long) to newtons
See all force units.