Orders of magnitude (force)
Comparison of a wide range of physical forces
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The following list shows different orders of magnitude of force.
Since weight under gravity is a force, several of these examples refer to the weight of various objects. Unless otherwise stated, these are weights under average Earth gravity at sea level.
Below 1 N
| Factor (N) | Value | Item |
|---|---|---|
| 10−47 |
3.6×10−17 qN | Gravitational attraction of the proton and the electron in hydrogen atom[1] |
| 10−30 quectonewton (qN) |
8.9 qN | Weight of an electron[1] |
| 10−26 |
16 rN | Weight of a hydrogen atom[1] |
| 10−24 yoctonewton (yN) |
5 yN | Force necessary to synchronize the motion of a single trapped ion with an external signal measured in a 2010 experiment[2][3] |
| 10−22 | 170 yN | Force measured in a 2010 experiment by perturbing 60 beryllium-9 ions[4][5] |
| 10−18 attonewton (aN) |
||
| 10−17 | 30 aN | Smallest force of gravity measured[6][7] |
| 10−15 femtonewton (fN) |
||
| 10−14 | ~10 fN | Brownian motion force on an E. coli bacterium averaged over 1 second[8] |
| ~10 fN | Weight of an E. coli bacterium[9][10] | |
| 10−13 | ~100 fN | Force to stretch double-stranded DNA to 50% relative extension[8] |
| 10−12 piconewton (pN) |
~4 pN | Force to break a hydrogen bond[8] |
| ~5 pN | Maximum force of a molecular motor[8] | |
| 10−11 | ||
| 10−10 | ~160 pN | Force to break a typical noncovalent bond[8] |
| 10−9 nanonewton (nN) |
~1.6 nN | Force to break a typical covalent bond[8] |
| 10−8 |
~82nN | Force on an electron in a hydrogen atom[1] |
| 10−7 |
~200nN | Force between two 1 meter long conductors, 1 meter apart by an outdated definition of one ampere |
| 10−6 micronewton (μN) |
1–150 μN | Output of FEEP ion thrusters used in NASA's Laser Interferometer Space Antenna[11] |
| 10−4 | ||
| 10−3 millinewton (mN) |
2-4 mN | EQUULEUS § Propulsion |
| 10−2 | 19-92 mN | Thrust of the NSTAR ion engine tested on NASA's space probe Deep Space 1[12] |
| 10−1 | ||
1 N and above
| Magnitude | Value | Item |
|---|---|---|
| 1 N | 1.4 N | The weight of a smartphone[13][14] |
| 2.5 N | Typical thrust of a Dual-Stage 4-Grid ion thruster. | |
| 9.8 N | One kilogram-force, nominal weight of a 1 kg (2.2 lb) object at sea level on Earth[15] | |
| 10 N | 50 N | Average force to break the shell of a chicken egg from a young hen[16] |
| 102 N | 720 N | Average force of human bite, measured at molars[17] |
| 103 N kilonewton (kN) |
5 kN | The force applied by the engine of a small car during peak acceleration[citation needed] |
| 8 kN | The maximum force achieved by weight lifters during a 'clean and jerk' lift[18] (During the clean part) | |
| 9 kN | The bite force of one adult American alligator[19] | |
| 104 N | 16.5 kN | The bite force of a 5.2 m (17 ft) saltwater crocodile[20] |
| 18 kN | The estimated bite force of a 6.1 m (20 ft) adult great white shark[21] | |
| 25 kN | Approximate force applied by the motors of a Tesla Model S during maximal acceleration[22] | |
| 25.5 to 34.5 kN | The estimated bite force of a large 6.7 m (22 ft) adult saltwater crocodile[23] | |
| 105 N | 100 kN | The average force applied by seatbelt and airbag to a restrained passenger in a car which hits a stationary barrier at 100 km/h[24] |
| 569 kN | Maximum thrust of a large turbofan engine (General Electric GE90) | |
| 890 kN | Maximum pulling force (tractive effort) of a single large diesel-electric locomotive[1] | |
| 106 N meganewton (MN) |
1.8 MN | Thrust of Space Shuttle Main Engine at lift-off[25][26][27] |
| 1.9 MN | Weight of the largest blue whale[1] | |
| 107 N | 35 MN | Thrust of Saturn V rocket at lift-off[28] |
| 108 N | 570 MN | Simplistic estimate of force of sunlight on Earth[29] |
| 109 N giganewton (GN) |
8.99 GN | Force between two charges of 1 coulomb placed 1 meter apart |
| 1020 N | 200 EN | Gravitational attraction between Earth and Moon[30] |
| 1022 N | 35 ZN | Gravitational attraction between Earth and Sun[31] |
| 1029 N | ≈810 RN | Gravitational attraction between our Galaxy and Andromeda Galaxy[32] |
| 1044 N | 1.2×1014 QN | Planck force |