r/searchandrescue • u/Whatthedillyo85 • 25d ago

CMC RESCUE Carabiner strength question

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I’m having a hard time figuring out how strong this is.

What would it be rated to in poundage?

Thank you ahead of time for the assistance.

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u/LazerBear924 Fire/Mountain Rescue, CO 25d ago

Thats not accurate. Weight is a force, just a very specific type of force caused by gravity acting perpendicular to the Earth.

Pounds are the US customary system unit for force. Engineers use pounds to measure forces in any dimension as needed in structural design, as forces are forces. Source: am a licensed civil engineer and rope rescue tech.

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u/speckyradge 25d ago

Ok now I'm confused (metric educated person now living in the US). What is the US customary unit for mass? Metric weight would be in N (mass x g) with mass expressed as kg. People tend to use the word weight when they're really talking about mass as you're pointing out. So if US pounds are equivalent to N, what is equivalent to kg? If you're doing F=ma without using metric, what unit is used?

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u/LazerBear924 Fire/Mountain Rescue, CO 25d ago

Formally mass in the USCS system is the slug, equal to 1 lb-s2/ft, or 32.17405 lbs on earth or 14.59390 kg.

Basically we use pounds for both and just say pounds-force or pounds-mass (lb-f // lb-m).

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u/speckyradge 25d ago

That's fascinating, thank you.