The Dyne

There are 100,000 dynes in a single Newton.

The Dyne is an archaic unit of force specified in the centimetre-gram-second (CGS) system of units.

This unit is defined as "the force required to accelerate a mass of one gram at a rate of one centimetre per second squared."

The British Association for the Advancement of Science first suggested the name "dyne" in 1873.

Originally called "dynum" but this was deemed difficult for English speakers to pronounce.

Henry Charles Fleeming Jenkin, one of the members on the Committee for the Selection of Nomenclature of Dynamical and Electrical Units, consisting of Sir W. Thomson, Professor G. C. Foster, Professor J. C. Maxwell, Mr. G.J Stoney, Dr. Siemens, Mr. F. J. Bramwell, Professor Everett, and Professor Jenkin himself.

References

Thomson, Sir Wl; Professor GC, Foster; Maxwell, Professor JC; Stoney, Mr GJ; Professor Flemming, Jenkin; Siemens, Dr; Bramwell, Mr FJ (September 1873). Everett, Professor (ed.). First Report of the Committee for the Selection and Nomenclature of Dynamical and Electrical Units. Forty-third Meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science. Bradford: Johna Murray. p. 224. Retrieved 4 May 2025.

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