How Heavy is too Heavy?
To find the force exerted on your floor, measure the area of the
stand which will actually be in contact with the floor. Divide the
weight by this area and you will have the force. (I forget the units of
force. I believe it's Newtons in metric, but don't remember it's g/cm2
equivalent. I don't believe I ever learned the English system unit name
because science classes are the only place we crazy Americans use the
metric system.)
Newtons are the units of force, dependant on gravity. Force = mass x
acceleration, so that's kilograms x gravitational potential, which is 9.807
m/s
Since gravity is fairly constant, we can use kilograms or newtons to
describe the force exerted on an object by it's weight.
An interesting fact, since gravity or gravitational potential is determined
by the distance to the centre of mass, and the Earth not being a perfect
sphere, gravity at the equator (sea level) differs by 0.5% from that at the
poles. But for the purposes of calculation, 9.807 is the figure given in our
data books.
Marcus
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