The horror that is gc

Basically, this little devil is used to make the units cancel out in the English Engineering system of units. pounds mass can be divided by g_c to get slugs.

Defined as g_c = (32.2 ft*lbm)/(lbf*s^2).

Keeps engineering students awake at night.

Adding to the confusion, there are two meanings associated with g_c--I've heard it applied to both the acceleration due to gravity on the earth (32.2 ft/sec^2, 9.81 m/s^2) and what I have used above, which is to cancel out the units in the English Engineering system of units. It's the ft*lbm/lbf*sec^2 part that's horrible, not the 32.2.

g = 9.81 m/s^2 = 9.81 N/kg

Yes, gravity does tend to keep Rose-Hulman mechanical engineering students awake at night. Without it, there would be no need for engineers to design airfoils to keep airplanes aloft. What makes it especially horrible in the English Engineering system is that the term pound has been overloaded as both a unit of mass (1/32.2 slug) and a unit of force (1 slug * 1 ft/s^2)