A note on the endless confusion of g, [g.sub.c] and lb of the english system of units

Hundreds of years after Newton's famous formula F = ma, the confusion between the units g and [g.sub.c] and their interpretations is still rampant. In spite of warnings prevalent throughout textbooks and literature, problems persist for these English (or so-called British) units. Some of the difficulty stems from the same numerical value of 32.2 for these different units. This paper clarifies the different units of g and [g.sub.c] by going back to the original desire for similar magnitudes of the units lbm and lbf. In clarifying the English unit system, this paper calls for the abolition of lb, which has become a hopelessly confusing term that is used inconsistently to mean both lbm and lbf, or sometimes even a completely different unit. Keywords units; English units; gravitational constant; consistent units