Newtons to pounds-force – and pounds-force to newtons
1 N = 0.22480894 lbf
All units in this category
- 100N
- 0.1kN
- 10.197162kgf
- 22.480894lbf
- 10,000,000dyn
Formula
Multiply the value in newtons by 0.22480894 to get pounds-force.lbf = N × 0.22480894
Multiply the value in pounds-force by 4.4482216 to get newtons.N = lbf × 4.4482216
How to convert newtons to pounds-force
Type a value in the field above and the result is calculated instantly. Use the arrow button to swap direction, or pick other units from the lists.
Doing it in your head
A rough conversion for when the calculator is not to hand. The error comes last, and it holds in both directions at that order of magnitude.
- Newtons to pounds-force: ÷ 4 − 10%. That gives 0.225 instead of 0.224809, an error of 0.08%.
- Pounds-force to newtons: × 4 + 10%. That gives 4.4 instead of 4.44822, an error of 1.1%.
Newtons to pounds-force – common values
| Newtons (N) | Pounds-force (lbf) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 0.224809 |
| 5 | 1.12404 |
| 10 | 2.24809 |
| 20 | 4.49618 |
| 50 | 11.2404 |
| 100 | 22.4809 |
| 200 | 44.9618 |
| 500 | 112.404 |
| 1,000 | 224.809 |
| 5,000 | 1,124.04 |
Pounds-force to newtons – common values
| Pounds-force (lbf) | Newtons (N) |
|---|---|
| 1 | 4.44822 |
| 5 | 22.2411 |
| 10 | 44.4822 |
| 20 | 88.9644 |
| 50 | 222.411 |
| 100 | 444.822 |
| 200 | 889.644 |
| 500 | 2,224.11 |
| 1,000 | 4,448.22 |
| 5,000 | 22,241.1 |
About the units
Newtons. The newton is the SI coherent unit of force: the force that gives a mass of one kilogram an acceleration of one metre per second squared. The International Committee for Weights and Measures put the definition in 1946, and the unit is legal throughout the EU and the one European structural and materials engineering counts in. A kilogram weighs 9.80665 newtons under standard gravity, so a hundred-gram apple weighs about one newton. The trap is that force and mass are different quantities.
Pounds-force. A pound-force is the weight of an avoirdupois pound under standard gravity: 0.45359237 times 9.80665, exactly 4.4482216152605 newtons. Both figures are exact, so the unit is too. It is absent from the EU units directive but is used in American and British engineering for tractive force, spring rates, bolted joints and rocket thrust in “pounds of thrust”. One newton is 0.2248 pound-force. The trap is that English writes both mass and force as “pound” – always write lbf when force is meant.