Please explain pressure gauge: kPa & psi

KiloPascal

Here's the conversion:

Speedy Jim

That's kilopascals. A pascal is one newton per square meter, and the prefix "kilo-" means multiplied by 1000, just as it does in kilometers and kilograms and kilovolts and kilowatts.

The other one is the one that causes more confusion, because pounds are primarily units of mass, not units of force (e.g., at the supermarket). A psi, however, is one pound force per square inch.

Now, if you want to know the relationship between these, you need to know that one pound force is one pound times an acceleration chosen as the standard acceleration of free fall. A pound is by definition

0.45359237 kg, and while pounds force don't have an official definition, we often borrow the acceleration which is official for defining the obsolete kilograms force to define pounds force: 9.80665 m/s².

Thus, for the pounds in psi, we have 1 lbf equal to about 4.448 newtons. That's what makes it difficult for many people to understand the relationship between the English customary units and the modern metric system, the International System of Units (SI)--a failure to understand the nature of the English units used, a failure to understand that these pounds force are a different animal from the pounds that appear on a bag of sugar in the supermarket.

Gene Nygaard

But if it be thought that, either now, or at any future time, the citizens of the United States may be induced to undertake a thorough reformation of their whole system of measures, weights and coins, reducing every branch to the same decimal ratio already established in their coins, and thus bringing the calculation of the principal affairs of life within the arithmetic of every man who can multiply and divide plain numbers, greater changes will be necessary. U.S. Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson, 1790

Be sure to visit (and bookmark) Gene's very informative and humorous site dealing with these aspects of metric measure.

Speedy Jim

Hi Randall,

kPa = kilo Pascal a measure of pressure named after Blaise Pascal a French mathemaician 1623-62 who discovered that the pressure in liquid is everywhere equal which in turn led to the invension of the hydrolic press and the Barometer. One Pascal (Pa) = 1 newton per Square Metre so kPa = 1000 Pa

As for a conversion factor from and to Pounds per Square Inch (PSI) I couldn't find that in the big book of words that makes me sound smart!

Cheers,

John

You are a goofball. Where do you see any conversion of pressure units at this link?

There are none. What's more, there are no conversions of force units, either. You can't even get your pounds force converted to newtons.

It gets worse. The area conversions don't even include square inches, so it is difficult to convert the per square inch to per square meter for pascals (which are newtons per square meter). The only way you can get there is to use the From meters To inches (you have to do the "from" and "to" backwards because it is in the denominator) twice.

There are lots of online sites which will convert force and pressure, and lots of programs you can download and install on your computer which will do the same.

Gene Nygaard

all chemicals are bad. Without hydrogen and oxygen, there would be no way to make water, a vitalingredient in beer. -- Dave Barry>

DUHH!

*now* you tell me!

Jan

Gene Nygaard wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

hehehe

You know, I first started working on ACVWs back when men were men and gas was 30 cents a gallon. People gasped and said, You're going to have to buy *metric* tools. I did, and it wasn't long before I learned the metric system. 10 millemeters is right between 9 and 11. That's all there is to it!

-----------------------------------------

You're absolutely right. If I were you I'd demand a refund.

On 27 Aug 2003 15:49:45 GMT, snipped-for-privacy@aol.com (Veeduber) left Mt Vesuvius in a state of jealous awe as he began spewing from the mouth thusly:

heh heh. Exactly.

watch out! he may sue for damages. ;)

Most definitely a goofball.........................No argument there.

I remembered this as a Metric to US conversion and it has many applications I have used in the past (recent past even) .................Sorry it didn't help. I Should have looked a bit before sharing the info.

Late work days and hot humid weather are defintiely closing down my thinker a bit much by the end of my mental day...................

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