Fluids converters
Viscosity - Dynamic Converter
Convert dynamic viscosity units: pascal-second, poise, centipoise and reyn.
Result
0.001 Pa·s
1 cP = 0.001 Pa·s
All units for this value
| Unit | Symbol | Value |
|---|---|---|
| Pascal second | Pa·s | 0.001 |
| Millipascal second | mPa·s | 1 |
| Newton second per square meter | N·s/m² | 0.001 |
| Kilogram per meter per second | kg/(m·s) | 0.001 |
| Poise | P | 0.01 |
| Centipoise | cP | 1 |
| Millipoise | mP | 10 |
| Micropoise | µP | 10000 |
| Dyne second per square centimeter | dyn·s/cm² | 0.01 |
| Pound-force second per square foot | lbf·s/ft² | 0.0000208854 |
| Reyn (lbf·s/in²) | reyn | 1.45038e-7 |
| Pound per foot per second | lb/(ft·s) | 0.000671969 |
| Pound per foot per hour | lb/(ft·h) | 2.41909 |
| Slug per foot per second | slug/(ft·s) | 0.0000208854 |
About this calculator
Dynamic viscosity measures a fluid's resistance to flow under an applied force, distinguishing thick liquids like honey from thin ones like water. This converter switches between the SI pascal-second, the CGS poise family still common in lubricant and paint specifications, and the reyn and related units used in some US engineering references.
How it works in plain English
Dynamic viscosity is anchored here to the pascal-second, which is equivalent to a newton-second per square meter and to a kilogram per meter per second, so all three of those units share the same conversion factor of 1. Any entered value is first rescaled into pascal-seconds and then rescaled again into whichever unit you select as the target.
The CGS poise equals one-tenth of a pascal-second, and centipoise, one-hundredth of a poise, is the most commonly quoted unit for everyday liquids because water at room temperature measures almost exactly 1 centipoise. The US units convert through pound-force, slug, and foot measurements: a pound-force-second per square foot and a slug per foot-second both equal about 47.88 pascal-seconds, while a reyn, defined using pound-force per square inch, equals roughly 6894.76 pascal-seconds, a much larger unit historically used in bearing lubrication calculations.
Choose your from and to units, enter a value, and the converted viscosity appears immediately, with a full table showing that same viscosity across every supported unit at once. A precision selector controls how many decimal places display, and a swap button flips the conversion direction in one click.
The formula
- value_in_target = value_in_source × (source factor to Pa·s) ÷ (target factor to Pa·s)
- 1 P (poise) = 0.1 Pa·s
- 1 cP (centipoise) = 0.001 Pa·s
- 1 reyn = 6894.757293168361 Pa·s
Worked example
Suppose a lubricant datasheet lists an oil's viscosity as 150 cP at operating temperature, and an engineer needs that figure in pascal-seconds for a metric design calculation. Multiplying by the centipoise factor: 150 × 0.001 = 0.15 Pa·s.
Entering 150 into the centipoise field with Pa·s selected as the target shows 0.15 Pa·s right away. As a further check, dividing that 0.15 Pa·s by the poise factor of 0.1 gives 1.5 poise, confirming the centipoise-to-poise scaling was applied correctly before the value reached the pascal-second base.
The unit table also reports this same viscosity as 1.5 poise, 150 mPa·s, and about 0.0000217 lbf·s/ft², all computed from that single entered value without any extra lookup. Reading across that table is a convenient way to see the same 150 cP oil expressed at the metric, CGS, and US-engineering scales side by side.
Dynamic viscosity of common fluids
| Fluid | Dynamic viscosity (Pa·s) |
|---|---|
| Water (20 °C) | 0.001 |
| Air (20 °C) | 0.0000181 |
| Olive oil | 0.081 |
| Honey | 2-10 |
| Motor oil (SAE 30) | ~0.2 |
| Glycerin | 1.5 |
Standard engineering reference values at room temperature
Frequently asked questions
Why is water's viscosity so close to 1 centipoise?
The centipoise was historically convenient partly because water at around 20 °C measures almost exactly 1 centipoise, making it an easy mental reference point. This converter still treats 1 cP as exactly 0.001 pascal-seconds regardless of temperature, since the unit itself is a fixed conversion factor rather than a temperature-dependent measurement.
What's the difference between dynamic viscosity and kinematic viscosity?
Dynamic viscosity measures a fluid's resistance to flow in absolute terms, while kinematic viscosity divides that resistance by the fluid's density, describing how the fluid moves under gravity alone. This converter handles dynamic viscosity units like pascal-seconds and poise; a separate kinematic viscosity converter covers units like stokes and square meters per second.
Why do pascal-second, N·s/m², and kg/(m·s) all have the same factor?
These three unit expressions are algebraically identical once the base SI units are expanded, since a pascal itself equals a newton per square meter, and a newton equals a kilogram-meter per second squared. Any of the three names can be used interchangeably for the same physical unit.
What is a reyn and why is it so much larger than a pascal-second?
A reyn is defined using pound-force per square inch and seconds rather than metric units, which happens to make it a very large unit compared to the pascal-second, roughly 6895 times larger. It appears mainly in older US bearing and lubrication engineering documents, so this converter includes it for comparing those figures against modern metric viscosity data.
Can I convert a poise value from an old lubricant chart directly to pascal-seconds?
Yes. Select poise as the from unit and pascal-second as the to unit, then enter the figure from the chart; the converter applies the fixed factor of 0.1 automatically. There's no need to remember or manually apply that conversion constant.
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