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Tons and kilonewtons

Tons and kilonewtons
by Barry Heatn on 10/12/04 at 09:22:14

I'm a player of Microsoft's Train Simulator, the internal physics of which are a little finicky about the units used in certain places. For instance the Mass, and by association, weight, of locos and wagons is expressed in long tons (it was written by an English software house) but things like Braking Force are dealt with by the simulator engine in kiloNewtons using a conversion of 1ton=1.5kiloNewton.
Your online calculator produces a different result, of :
1 ton-force [long] = 9.964016384 kilonewton

So who has got it wrong? you, them, or me?


Re: Tons and kilonewtons
by Robert Fogt on 10/12/04 at 18:08:10

Wow. They are way wrong.

1 pound of force = 4.4482216 Newtons
1 long ton = 2240 pounds
4.4482216 * 2240 = 9964.016384 Newtons
9964.016384 Newtons = 9.964016384 kilonewtons

There may be reasons for them using that value though. Maybe its not the braking force, but the force at which you actually brake in the game. For example, in the game physics if you were to brake at 9.964 kilonewtons, you would come to a complete stop immediately.  Braking at 1.5 kilonewtons means you gradually come to a stop.  But thats just an example. I have no idea how their game physics work. I don't think their game physics = real life physics.


Re: Tons and kilonewtons
by thenudehamster on 10/12/04 at 19:36:58

Looking into it, I think it's an 'equivalence' thing. Braking force is in kN, but the base value in kN is 1.5 times the numeric value of the Mass in long tons. Nobody ever actually [i]explains[/i] thatbit...
But nobody ever accused Microsoft of being accurate in anything, did they?


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