I found a historical physics paper with surface tension data in dynes/cm. How do I convert it to modern SI units?

Divide by 1,000 to convert dynes/cm to N/m. For example, 72 dynes/cm = 0.072 N/m. Most modern databases list surface tension in mN/m, so 72 dynes/cm = 72 mN/m.

An old seismology paper reports a seismic moment of 1×10²² dyne·cm. What is that in N·m?

Divide by 10⁷: 1×10²² dyne·cm ÷ 10⁷ = 1×10¹⁵ N·m. This is a magnitude ~7 earthquake on the moment magnitude scale.

Should I be working in dynes, or can I just use SI?

Use SI (newtons) for all new work. Dynes are only needed when reading legacy literature. If you're reading a paper with dynes, it's almost certainly from before 1980 or from a field that hasn't updated its notation.

Why is the dyne so much smaller than the newton?

CGS uses centimeters and grams (tiny units); SI uses metres and kilograms (1,000× larger). Force scales as mass × length, so the ratio is 1,000 × 100 = 100,000. Hence 1 N = 100,000 dynes.

Newtons to Dynes Converter

Enter a value to instantly convert between force units.

From

Precision4 dp

1 Newton = 100000 Dyne

Key Formulas

Newton → Pound-Force

lbf = N × 0.224809

Pound-Force → Newton

N = lbf × 4.44822

Kilogram-Force → Newton

N = kgf × 9.80665

Newton → Kilogram-Force

kgf = N × 0.101972

Formula

dynes = N × 100000

Physics researchers working with historical literature encounter dynes whenever papers predate the 1970s SI adoption. Surface tension is still cited in dynes/cm in many chemistry databases, fluid mechanics constants appear in dyne-based CGS in older textbooks, and seismic moment is reported in dyne·cm in legacy earthquake catalogs. Converting newtons to dynes lets modern researchers cross-reference new measurements against those archives without manually recalculating every constant.

Source: NIST SP 811, Table B.8

Last reviewed: 2026-06-11 · see our methodology

Frequently Asked Questions

Real-World Examples

The fundamental conversion: 1 N = 1 kg·m/s² = 100,000 g·cm/s² = 100,000 dynes, reflecting the CGS-to-SI scale difference.

1 N = 100000 dyn

Surface tension of water at 20°C — classically reported as 72.8 dynes/cm (= 0.0728 N/m) in chemistry references and interfacial science papers.

0.0728 N = 7280 dyn

Thin-film adhesion force in a nanomaterials experiment — 100 dynes is a typical peel strength below the resolution of conventional scales.

0.001 N = 100 dyn

One pound-force expressed in dynes — useful when a 1960s tensile testing paper reports strength in dynes and you need to compare it to a modern lbf rating.

4.448 N = 444800 dyn

newtons to lbf lbf to newtons kgf to newtons newtons to kgf kn to newtons newtons to kn

Newtons to Dynes Converter

Key Formulas

Formula

Frequently Asked Questions

Real-World Examples

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