A kip is a
US customary unit of
force. It equals 1000
pounds-force
The pound of force or pound-force (symbol: lbf, sometimes lbf,) is a unit of force used in some systems of measurement, including English Engineering units and the foot–pound–second system.
Pound-force should not be confused with pound-ma ...
, and is used primarily by
structural engineers to indicate forces where the value represented in pound-force is inefficient. Although uncommon, it is occasionally also considered a unit of
mass
Mass is an intrinsic property of a body. It was traditionally believed to be related to the quantity of matter in a physical body, until the discovery of the atom and particle physics. It was found that different atoms and different eleme ...
, equal to 1000
pounds (i.e. one half of a
short ton). Another use is as a unit of
deadweight to compute shipping charges.
:1 kip = 4448.2216
N = 4.4482216 kN
The name comes from combining the words ''kilo'' and ''pound''; it is occasionally called a kilopound. Its symbol is kip, sometimes K (upper or lowercase), or less frequently, klb. When it is necessary to clearly distinguish it as a unit of force rather than mass, it is sometimes called the ''kip-force'' (symbol kipf or klbf).
The symbol kp usually stands for the ''kilopond'', a unit of force, or
kilogram-force
The kilogram-force (kgf or kgF), or kilopond (kp, from la, pondus, lit=weight), is a non-standard gravitational metric unit of force. It does not comply with the International System of Units (SI) and is deprecated for most uses. The kilogram- ...
, used primarily in Europe prior to the introduction of SI units.
The kip is also the name of a unit of mass equal to approximately 9.19
kilograms. This usage is obsolete, and was used in
Malaysia
Malaysia ( ; ) is a country in Southeast Asia. The federation, federal constitutional monarchy consists of States and federal territories of Malaysia, thirteen states and three federal territories, separated by the South China Sea into two r ...
.
See also
*
Short ton-force
References
Units of force
Units of mass
Customary units of measurement in the United States
{{United States Customary Units