Difference Between LBM and LBF

LBM vs LBF
 

LBM and LBF are two units used to measure mass and force. LBM stands for Pound mass and LBF stands for Pound force. Mass and force are two very important concepts discussed under mechanics. These are two of the most fundamental physical quantities and are intuitive concepts. It is vital to have a proper understanding in these concepts and the units used to measure them in order to excel in fields like physics, engineering, motor mechanics and many more. In this article, we are going to discuss what force and mass are, what LBM and LBF are, their definitions, applications, similarities between LBM and LBF, and finally the difference between LBM and LBF.

LBM (Pound Mass)

To understand what LBM is, one must understand the concept of mass first. Mass is divided into three different types as inertial mass, active gravitational mass and passive gravitational mass. Experimental data show that all three of these quantities are the same. Matter and energy are two forms of mass. The common misconception is that the weight is measured in kilograms but, in fact, the weight is measured in Newton. The weight is the amount of force acting on the mass. The kinetic energy of a body, the momentum of a body and the amount of acceleration due to a force applied are dependent on the mass of the body. Apart from day-to-day materials, things such as electromagnetic waves also have mass. In relativity, there are two types of mass defined as rest mass and relativistic mass. The SI unit for the measurement of mass is the kilogram. The unit pound is used to measure the mass in some countries. The symbols lb, lbm, lb_m are used to denote pound mass. 1 pound is equal to 0.454 kilograms.

LBF (Pound Force)

To understand the concept of LBF, one must first understand the concept of force. Force is a very important concept in all forms of physics. In the most basic sense, there are four fundamental forces. These are gravitational force, electromagnetic force, weak force and strong force. These are also known as interactions and are non-contacting forces. The day-to-day forces we use in pushing an object or doing any work are contact forces. It must be noted that forces always act in pairs. The force from object A on object B is equal and opposite to the force from object B on object A. This is known as Newton’s third law of motion. The common interpretation of force is the “ability to do work”. It must be noted that to do work, a force is required, but every force does not necessarily do work. To apply a force, an amount of energy is required. The Pound force is the weight of an object due to the standard gravitational force. The gravitational acceleration being 32.17 feet per second per second the Newton’s formula for force gives us a weight of an object to be (weight) * acceleration. One LBF is defined as the weight of 1 pound mass.