Gene Nygaard wrote:

Apparently you are claiming that pounds are not units of mass.

Where did you learn that?

Being the skeptic that I am, how can I convince myself that that is
true? Is there some textbook, or something from some national
standards agency, that would help me verify this?

Gene Nygaard

Nice web page you have on the subject, but I suspect it is not
quite so cut and dried as you make out.

I have a strong recollection (from many years ago) of being
taught that pounds where force. Going to google with 'pound
mass force' yields some modern university teaching material
which says the same. My ancient thermo text uses lbf and lbm
throughout to eliminate confusion.

There seems to be little doubt that today the pound is
defined in terms of the kilogram so is clearly a unit of
mass.

But usage of the pound seems to be less consistent. Consider
pounds per square inch or foot-pounds; in each of these
the pound is a unit of force.

I expect the definition of pound will be argued for some
years to come.

Let's just all go metric. The only really confusing measure
there seems to be the definition of the litre.

....Keith