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Foot-pounds or pound-feet?

Use the terms interchangeably and people may question your technical competence

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE between foot-pounds and pound-feet? Both consist of the same units-a force and a distance-multiplied together. The physical quantities being expressed, however, are quite different. Yet applying the terms interchangeably is one of the most common misuses of technical language.

The product of a force times a distance, as in "pound-feet" ("Newton-meters," for those metrically inclined), is torque. In electric machinery, we all know what torque means. It's the turning effort developed by a motor that causes a shaft to rotate. Based on the simple principle of the lever, torque is increased by ...

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