Convert acceleration units — m/s², ft/s², g-force, Gal and more.
| Unit | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| cm/s² | Centimeter/Square Second | 100 |
| ft/s² | Foot/Square Second | 3.2808399 |
| in/s² | Inch/Square Second | 39.370079 |
| g | Standard Gravity | 0.10197162 |
| Gal | Gal (cm/s²) | 100 |
| mG | Millig | 101.97162 |
Formula: ft/s² = m/s² × 3.281
Multiply any m/s² value by 3.281 to get ft/s².
Reverse: m/s² = ft/s² × 0.3048
Common acceleration values — factor: 1 m/s² = 3.281 ft/s²
| m/s² (m/s²) | ft/s² (ft/s²) | Context |
|---|---|---|
| 0.001 m/s² | 0.003281 ft/s² | Seismic micro |
| 0.01 m/s² | 0.03281 ft/s² | Gentle vibration |
| 0.1 m/s² | 0.3281 ft/s² | Slow elevator |
| 0.98 m/s² | 3.215 ft/s² | 0.1 g |
| 1 m/s² | 3.281 ft/s² | 1 m/s² |
| 1.62 m/s² | 5.315 ft/s² | Moon surface |
| 3.7 m/s² | 12.14 ft/s² | Mars surface |
| 4.9 m/s² | 16.08 ft/s² | 0.5 g braking |
| 9.807 m/s² | 32.18 ft/s² | 1 g Earth surface |
| 19.6 m/s² | 64.3 ft/s² | 2 g |
| 50 m/s² | 164 ft/s² | 5 g fighter jet |
| 98.07 m/s² | 321.8 ft/s² | 10 g |
| 100 m/s² | 328.1 ft/s² | ~10 g |
| 490 m/s² | 1608 ft/s² | ~50 g |
| 1000 m/s² | 3281 ft/s² | ~100 g crash |
m/s² × 3.281 = ft/s².
9.807 m/s² = 32.17 ft/s² = 1 g. 1 m/s² = 3.281 ft/s².
ft/s² × 0.3048 = m/s².
Specifies aircraft and spacecraft acceleration loads in g and m/s² for structural design and pilot tolerance.
Measures vehicle acceleration performance (0–100 km/h) and braking deceleration in m/s² and g.
Uses Gal and mGal to measure variations in Earth's gravitational field for mineral exploration.
Programs joint acceleration limits in m/s² or in/s² for servo motor control and trajectory planning.
Calculates seismic acceleration loads (in g or m/s²) for earthquake-resistant building design.
Measures athlete acceleration performance using accelerometers reporting in g or m/s².
The meter per second squared (m/s²) is the SI unit of acceleration, defined as the rate of change of velocity in meters per second, per second. It was formalized with the adoption of the International System of Units in 1960, building on Newton's second law F = ma.
m/s² is the universal unit in physics and engineering: free-fall acceleration on Earth = 9.80665 m/s²; a sports car accelerating from 0–100 km/h in 4 seconds experiences about 6.9 m/s²; the Large Hadron Collider accelerates particles at up to 10²⁰ m/s².
Interesting fact: The highest g-force ever survived by a human was 46.2g (453 m/s²), experienced by racing driver David Purley in a crash at the 1977 British Grand Prix. The acceleration lasted only milliseconds but was survivable due to the restraint system.
Feet per second squared (ft/s²) is the Imperial acceleration unit, equal to 0.3048 m/s². It is used in US aerospace, ballistics, and mechanical engineering where calculations are performed in the Imperial foot-pound-second (FPS) system.
Standard gravity in ft/s² = 32.174 ft/s². Aerospace trajectory calculations, aircraft performance charts, and US military ballistics tables traditionally use ft/s². A car accelerating at 1g experiences approximately 32.2 ft/s².
Interesting fact: The original definition of the foot varied across different countries and trades (Roman foot, English foot, survey foot) until the International Foot was standardized as exactly 0.3048 meters in 1959.
Converting m/s² to ft/s² is common in aerospace, automotive, geophysics, and robotics. Physics and SI engineering use m/s²; US aerospace uses ft/s²; geophysics uses Gal (cm/s²); and g-force is universal. Key anchor: Earth surface gravity = 9.807 m/s² = 1 g = 32.17 ft/s² = 980.7 Gal.
Quick reference: 10 m/s² = 32.81 ft/s². Reverse: 1 ft/s² = 0.3048 m/s². Factor: 1 m/s² = 3.281 ft/s².
All conversions use IEEE 754 double-precision arithmetic, accurate to at least 8 significant figures.