How much is a kilonewton? A great visual

bonus 2
Written By John Godino
 
 
 

You see it on the labels of your carabiners, slings, rock, and rock protection: “Rated by the CE/UIAA to 22 kN”.

If you stayed awake in physics class, you might know that a kilonewton is a metric unit of force, equal to the weight of about 100 kg, or 225 pounds.

But even that gets a little dry.

  • You have a skinny 8 mm Dyneema sling in your hand.

  • It says it's rated to 22 kN . . .

  • But you still doesn't have a real sense of how much that is.

It turns out 100 kg is about the average weight of one NFL (American) football player.

So, imagine this: A skinny 8 mm Dyneema sling, rated for 22 kN, could hold about 22 football players all hanging from it at the same time!

Isn’t that’s kinda crazy to think about! Yes, most all climbing gear is impressively strong!

Next time you or your partner is concerned about that skinny sling breaking under your body weight, or maybe rappelling off of a single quick link that's rated to more than 40 kN, think of a whole pile of football players hanging off of your gear instead just you.

Hopefully you'll feel better. =^)

Fun facts about that gear label . . .

  • The “N” is capitalized in “kN” because it refers to the last name of Sir Isaac Newton.

  • There are only three countries in the world that don’t use the metric system: Liberia, Myanmar, and ‘Merica. Metric measurements are the international standard of pretty much everything, especially climbing, and that's what this ‘Merican is using.

  • What about that CE rating, what’s that? CE is an acronym from the French, "Conformité Européenne," which is French for “European Conformity”. Basically, it means that the gear meets certain safety regulations established by the EU.

  • How about the UIAA rating? UIAA stands for “Union Internationale des Associations d'Alpinisme”, which translates to International Climbing and Mountaineering Federation. They developed globally recognized standards for climbing and mountaineering equipment. The UIAA label means it’s been tested by an accredited third party and meets the UIAA requirements.

 
John Godino
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