Convert dynamic viscosity units — Pascal-second, Poise, centipoise, lb/(ft·s) and more.
| Unit | Name | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Pa·s | Pascal-second | 1 |
| P | Poise | 10 |
| cP | Centipoise | 1000 |
| lb/(ft·s) | Pound/(Foot·Second) | 0.67197076 |
| mPa·s | Millipascal-second | 1000 |
Formula: Poise = kg/(m·s) × 10
Multiply any kg/(m·s) value by 10 to get Poise.
Reverse: kg/(m·s) = Poise × 0.1
Water reference (20°C): 0.001002 kg/(m·s) = 0.01002 P
Values at ~20°C unless noted. Factor: 1 kg/(m·s) = 10 P
| kg/(m·s) (kg/(m·s)) | Poise (P) | Fluid |
|---|---|---|
| 1.800e-05 kg/(m·s) | 0.00018 P | Air (20°C) |
| 0.001002 kg/(m·s) | 0.01002 P | Water (20°C) |
| 0.0012 kg/(m·s) | 0.012 P | Ethanol |
| 0.0035 kg/(m·s) | 0.035 P | Blood (37°C) |
| 0.065 kg/(m·s) | 0.65 P | SAE 10W motor oil |
| 0.084 kg/(m·s) | 0.84 P | Olive oil |
| 0.2 kg/(m·s) | 2 P | Maple syrup |
| 0.3 kg/(m·s) | 3 P | SAE 30 motor oil |
| 5 kg/(m·s) | 50 P | Honey |
| 50 kg/(m·s) | 500 P | Ketchup |
| 100 kg/(m·s) | 1000 P | Molten glass (700°C) |
| 250 kg/(m·s) | 2500 P | Peanut butter |
| 3e+04 kg/(m·s) | 3e+05 P | Tar (room temp) |
| 2.3e+08 kg/(m·s) | 2.300e+09 P | Pitch (20°C) |
1 kg/(m·s) = 10 P.
Water at 20°C ≈ 1 cP = 1 mPa·s = 0.001 Pa·s = 0.01 P. Use as reference.
Multiply result by 0.1 to recover the original kg/(m·s) value.
Specifies oil viscosity in cP or mPa·s for formulation and quality control of lubricants.
Uses Pa·s and cP for pipeline flow calculations, pump design, and mixing operations.
Measures sauce, syrup, and dough viscosity in cP for texture optimization and process control.
Controls drug formulation viscosity in mPa·s for injectables, topical creams, and oral suspensions.
Specifies paint, ink, and adhesive viscosity in cP for application equipment compatibility.
Characterizes polymer melt viscosity in Pa·s for extrusion and injection molding process design.
Kilogram per meter per second (kg/(m·s)) is numerically identical to the pascal-second (Pa·s), since 1 Pa·s = 1 N·s/m² = 1 kg/(m·s). Both express the same physical quantity. Some older engineering texts prefer kg/(m·s) to make the dimensional analysis explicit.
kg/(m·s) appears in some fluid mechanics textbooks and engineering reference tables, particularly older European texts. The equivalence Pa·s = kg/(m·s) is exact — they are the same unit expressed with different dimensional notation.
Interesting fact: The equivalence Pa·s = kg/(m·s) can be derived dimensionally: Pa = kg/(m·s²), so Pa·s = kg/(m·s). This makes dynamic viscosity dimensionally the same as linear momentum density — an elegant connection in continuum mechanics.
The Poise (P) is the CGS unit of dynamic viscosity, equal to 1 dyne·s/cm² = 0.1 Pa·s. It was named after Jean Louis Marie Poiseuille, the French physician who first quantified viscous flow through tubes (1838–1840), establishing what became Poiseuille's law of flow.
The Poise was the standard viscosity unit before SI adoption. Water at 20°C = 0.01002 P ≈ 0.01 P = 1 cP. The centipoise became preferred because it gives water a value of ~1, making comparisons intuitive. Many older fluid data tables use Poise.
Interesting fact: Poiseuille was a physician, not a physicist, and he developed his viscosity measurements to understand blood flow through capillaries. His 1838 paper on capillary flow remains the foundation of microfluidics and cardiovascular fluid dynamics.
Dynamic viscosity measures a fluid's resistance to flow. The SI unit is Pa·s (= kg/(m·s)); cP and mPa·s are numerically identical and most widely used; P (Poise) is the CGS unit. Key anchor: water at 20°C ≈ 1 cP = 1 mPa·s = 0.001 Pa·s = 0.01 P.
Exact factor: 1 kg/(m·s) = 10 P. Reverse: 1 P = 0.1 kg/(m·s).
All conversions use IEEE 754 double-precision arithmetic, accurate to at least 8 significant figures.