Aerial Refueling
The KC-10 Extender tanker aircraft of the United States Air Force is used to refuel other planes in flight. The Extender can carry 365,000 lb of jet fuel, which can be transferred to another aircraft through a boom that temporarily connects the two planes.(a) Express the mass of the fuel in the units of slugs and lbm. (b) Express the mass and weight of the fuel in the SI.
Approach
We will calculate the mass m in terms of the fuel’s weight w and the gravitational acceleration g = 32.2 ft/s^2.With w expressed in pounds and g having the units of ft/s^2,the expression w=mg is dimensionally consistent when mass has the units of slugs. We will then convert from slugs to lbm using the conversion factor 1 slug 5 32.174 lbm from Equation (3.5).
1 slug = 32.174 lbm 1 lbm = 3.1081 × 10^{-2} slugs (3.5)
In part (b),we convert the fuel’s mass in the USCS to the SI using the conversion factor 1 slug = 14.59 kg from Table 3.6.
Table 3.6 Conversion Factors between Certain Quantities in the USCS and SI
Quantity | Conversion |
Length | 1 in. = 25.4 mm |
1 in. = 0.0254 m | |
1 ft = 0.3048 m | |
1 mi = 1.609 km | |
1 mm = 3.9370 ×10^{-2} in. | |
1 m = 39.37 in. | |
1 m = 3.2808 ft | |
1 km = 0.6214 mi | |
Area | 1 in^2 = 645.16 mm^2 |
1 ft^2 = 9.2903 × 10^{-2} m^2 | |
1 mm^2 = 1.5500 × 10^{-3 }in^2 | |
1 m^2 = 10.7639 ft^2 | |
Volume | 1 ft^3 = 2.832 × 10^{-2} m^3 |
1 ft^3 = 28.32 L | |
1 gal = 3.7854 × 10^{-3} m^3 | |
1 gal = 3.7854 L | |
1 m^3 = 35.32 ft^3 | |
1 L = 3.532 × 10^{-2} ft^3 | |
1 m^3 = 264.2 gal | |
1 L = 0.2642 gal | |
Mass | 1 slug = 14.5939 kg |
1 lbm = 0.45359 kg | |
1 kg = 6.8522 × 10^{-2} slugs | |
1 kg = 2.2046 lbm | |
Force | 1 lb = 4.4482 N |
1 N = 0.22481 lb | |
Pressure or stress | 1 psi = 6895 Pa |
1 psi = 6.895 kPa | |
1 Pa = 1.450 × 10^{-4 }psi | |
1 kPa = 0.1450 psi | |
Work, energy, or heat | 1 ft · lb = 1.356 J |
1 Btu = 1055 J | |
1 J = 0.7376 ft · lb | |
1 J = 9.478 × 10^{-4} Btu | |
Power | 1 (ft · lb)/s = 1.356 W |
1 hp = 0.7457 kW | |
1 W = 0.7376 (ft · lb)/s | |
1 kW = 1.341 hp |