Newtons to kilograms-force

One newton is 0.101971621298 kilograms-force, and this shows the working rather than just the answer. Nothing you type here leaves your browser — it is worked out on your own device, so there is nothing to send and nothing to log.

The factor

One newton is 0.101971621298 kilograms-force. That is the whole of the conversion: multiply by it, and nothing else happens.

And it is exact

Not rounded, not measured, not a convention that might be revised. The factor above is the definition, so an answer from it is as exact as the number you typed.

The kilogram-force is standard gravity is defined as exactly 9.80665 m/s², so this is exact too.

The number in your head

Most people use 0.1 for this, which is the factor to two significant figures. It is low by 1.9335% — 19.335 kilograms-force too few in every thousand, and 193.35 in every ten thousand.

Going the other way

The reverse is not this sum backwards in your head. It is a different factor, 9.80665, and dividing by one is not the same as multiplying by a rounded version of the other.

Rounded, the way back is 9.81, which is high by 0.0342%. So the two roundings do not cancel: go out and back with both and you do not land where you started.

How many of those decimals mean anything

The box above will give you ten decimal places because it can. Whether they mean anything is decided by your measurement, not by the arithmetic.

If you measured to the nearest newton, your figure is already uncertain by half of one — so the answer is uncertain by about 0.050986 kilograms-force, and every digit past that is decoration. Quoting 0.12589008 when you measured with a tape is claiming a precision the tape never had.

Where these two sit

Newtons and kilograms-force both measure force, which is why they can be converted at all. A conversion between families — a length into a weight — is not a conversion, it is a question with a missing quantity in it.

The unit converter pairs newtons with pounds-force rather than with kilograms-force, because that is the conversion people ask for most. This page exists because a good many ask for this one instead.

Other conversions from newtons

pounds-force · dynes

Where to go next