I think "kips" stands for "kilo-pounds". The fact that the kip, as well as the pound, is used for both force in some instances and for mass in others, is good reason to get rid of Ye Olde English units. Let's replace them with coherent SI units (which are also physically correct).
Bill Hooper 70 kg body mass Fernandina Beach, Florida, USA ======================= Mike Payne wrote: > From: Michael Payne <[email protected]> > Subject: [USMA:51179] Another wierd unit > Date: 2011 Oct 01 10:47:29 AM EDT > To: "U.S. Metric Association" <[email protected]> > Reply-To: [email protected] > > Found this while reading an article about an old and new bridge in Aspen > Colorado. > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maroon_Creek_Bridge#cite_note-Layne_Geoconstruction-8 > The abutments on either side of the gorge are supported by 72 8-inch (200 mm) > micropiles designed to support 150 kips each. > > Apparently In the United States, a kip is a non-SI unit of force that equals > 1,000 pounds-force, used primarily by architects and engineers to measure > engineering loads. Although uncommon, it is occasionally also considered a > unit of mass, equal to 1,000 pounds, i.e. one half of a U.S. ton. One use is > as a unit of deadweight to compute shipping charges. > > 1 kip = 4448.2216 Newtons (N) = 4.4482216 kilonewtons (kN). > > > Mike Payne >
