Metric Conversions: Torque

Torque is somewhat complicated. The term describes the amount of effort exerted to turn something. A chosen unit of weight or force is applied to a lever of standard length. The resulting leverage is called torque. In our standard system, we use the weight of one pound applied to a lever a foot long, resulting in the unit called a foot-pound. A smaller unit is the inch-pound (the lever is one inch long). Metric units include the meter kilogram (lever one meter long with a kilogram of weight applied) and the Newton-meter (lever one meter long with force of one Newton applied). Some conversions are:

• A meter kilogram is about 7.2 foot pounds.
• A foot pound is about 1.4 Newton-meters.
• A centimeter kilogram (cmkg) is equal to .9 inch pounds.