Convert m/s to ft/s metres per second ↔ feet per second Free Online Secure
Type a value in metres per second and read it in feet per second at once. The factor is exact by definition, the arithmetic happens in your browser, and nothing is sent anywhere.
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Convert from metres per second
Convert to feet per second
Common values — Convert m/s to ft/s (metres per second ↔ feet per second)
| m/s | ft/s |
|---|---|
| 1 | 3.28083989501 |
| 2 | 6.56167979003 |
| 3 | 9.84251968504 |
| 5 | 16.4041994751 |
| 10 | 32.8083989501 |
| 20 | 65.6167979003 |
| 50 | 164.041994751 |
| 100 | 328.083989501 |
Where these units come from
Speed has no unit of its own: it is a length divided by a time, so every trade simply kept the length it was already using. That is why the same motion is 100 km/h on a European road sign, 62 mph on an American one and 27.8 m/s in a physics problem. The knot is the oldest of them and the most literal: sailors paid out a line with knots tied at even spacing and counted how many ran through their fingers while a sand glass emptied, so the speed was read off in knots. One knot is one nautical mile per hour, and a nautical mile is a minute of latitude — which is why ships and aircraft still use it. The speed of light is the odd one out: since 1983 it is not measured but fixed at exactly 299,792,458 m/s, because the metre is now defined from it.
Where you meet them
Kilometres and miles per hour live on speedometers and road signs, metres per second in physics, engineering and wind reports, feet per second in ballistics and in American machine shops. Knots carry shipping, aviation and marine weather, and Mach numbers appear wherever an aircraft is fast enough for the air's own stiffness to matter. The speed of light turns up less in daily life than in distances: a light year is simply how far it gets in one.
Questions people ask
Is Mach 1 a fixed speed?
No. Mach is a ratio to the speed of sound in the surrounding air, and sound travels more slowly in colder air. This page uses the standard sea-level figure, 340.294 m/s, so Mach 1 here is about 1225 km/h. At the altitude airliners cruise at, the air is some 50 degrees colder and the same Mach 1 is roughly a tenth slower. An aircraft can therefore hold a constant Mach number while its speed over the ground changes.
Why do ships and aircraft use knots rather than km/h?
Because a nautical mile is one minute of arc of latitude. A vessel making one knot covers one minute of latitude in an hour, so speed, time and position on a chart fit together without conversion. The same reasoning kept the nautical mile at exactly 1852 metres rather than rounding it to something tidier.
Is the answer exact?
Where both units are defined in terms of one another by whole numbers, yes — the page says so above the figure, and the only rounding is in how many digits are shown. Where the ratio has no finite decimal, the page shows twelve significant digits and says the relation is approximate rather than pretending otherwise.
Does anything I type leave my device?
No. The arithmetic runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded and there is no server to upload it to. Load the page once and it keeps working with the network switched off.
Metric speeds for American readers: athletics, trains, wind tunnels and the cost of unit mistakes
Most of the world measures speed in metres per second, but a great many American textbooks, standards and customers want the same figure in feet per second. If you publish a result, write a specification or help a student with a physics problem set, you often need to carry a value across that border. To convert m/s to ft/s, multiply by 3.2808: 1 m/s is 3.28 ft/s, 10 m/s is 32.81 ft/s and 100 m/s is 328.08 ft/s. The calculator above multiplies as you type, and the sections below put the numbers in context, from sprinters and trains to the unit blunders that have cost real money.
The page gives the rule with worked examples, a profile of each unit, a comparison and many practical cases, followed by the common mistakes. The calculation runs in your browser and the figures you type are not sent anywhere. For anything safety critical, check the original standard.
How to convert m/s to ft/s: multiply by 3.2808
The rule
One foot is exactly 0.3048 metres, so one metre is 1 / 0.3048 = 3.28084 feet. To convert m/s to ft/s, multiply the speed in m/s by 3.2808. That makes 5 m/s equal to 16.4 ft/s, 25 m/s equal to 82.02 ft/s and 340 m/s equal to 1,115.5 ft/s. To go in the other direction, multiply ft/s by 0.3048.
Worked examples
A person walking at 1.4 m/s moves at 4.59 ft/s. A runner at 10 m/s covers 32.8 feet each second. A high-speed train at 89 m/s travels 292 ft/s, and sound at 343 m/s crosses 1,125 feet every second.
Why nothing is rounded away
The international foot was fixed at exactly 0.3048 metres in 1959. The multiplier 3.2808 is its reciprocal written to four decimals, and for fine work you can use 3.280840 and lose nothing that matters.
A quick sanity test
The answer in ft/s should be a little more than three times the figure in m/s. If a “convert m/s to ft/s” calculation gave you a smaller number than you started with, you have used the factor for the other direction.
The metre per second
The coherent SI unit
The metre per second is the SI unit of speed, used in science and engineering around the world. International standards, research papers and national weather services outside North America quote velocities in it.
Where it appears
Scientific journals, European standards, athletics records and technical data sheets.
The foot per second
The American engineering unit
The foot per second is the speed unit of the US customary system. It features in American textbooks, building codes, sports mechanics and the engineering archives of the space programme, and many customers still ask for it in specifications.
Where it appears
Catalogues, building codes, textbooks and reports for American clients.
Metres per second against feet per second
One m/s is 3.281 ft/s, so the figure in ft/s is more than three times as large. A speed of 20 m/s is 65.6 ft/s and one of 340 m/s is 1,115 ft/s. Both units describe the same motion, and only the size of the unit differs, as with a metre and a yard.
The conversion is exact and hides no rounding. The one trap is the direction: from m/s to ft/s the number grows.
Where the conversion shows up
Athletics and sport science
The 100 m world record of 9.58 seconds is an average of 10.44 m/s, which is 34.2 ft/s, and the peak reached in the race is about 12.4 m/s, or 40.7 ft/s. A paper in an American biomechanics journal quotes both units. When you read it you may need to convert m/s to ft/s for each data point to match your own tables.
Transport
A European high-speed train at 320 km/h moves at 88.9 m/s, which is 291.7 ft/s. A track bicycle at the hour-record pace of around 15.4 m/s makes 50.6 ft/s. Engineers who share models across the Atlantic keep a column in each unit.
Laboratory and wind tunnel work
Wind tunnels in Europe run at 20, 30 or 50 m/s, which are 65.6, 98.4 and 164 ft/s. An American client who wants to know how a design behaves at 100 mph needs 44.7 m/s on the control panel, and the calculator above provides it in either direction.
Mars Climate Orbiter
In 1999 the Mars Climate Orbiter was lost because one team's software supplied thrust data in pound-force seconds while another expected newton-seconds. The mission had cost hundreds of millions of dollars. The story is a reminder that a conversion between systems is not a formality: a factor of 4.45 on one number sent a probe to the wrong altitude.
Significant figures in data sheets
When you convert m/s to ft/s, round to the precision of the measurement. If you measured 0.5 m/s with a 10 per cent tolerance, write 1.6 ft/s, not 1.64042. Carry full digits in intermediate steps and round once at the end, especially when the speed will be squared in a later formula.
Landmarks to memorise
To convert m/s to ft/s by eye, remember that 1 m/s is 3.3 ft/s. 5 m/s is 16.4 ft/s. 10 m/s is 32.8 ft/s. 20 m/s is 65.6 ft/s. 50 m/s is 164 ft/s. 100 m/s is 328 ft/s. With these anchors you can estimate nearly any figure in a European data sheet by eye.
Reference ladder
0.3 m/s is 0.98 ft/s. 2 m/s is 6.56 ft/s. 7 m/s is 22.97 ft/s. 15 m/s is 49.21 ft/s. 30 m/s is 98.43 ft/s. 70 m/s is 229.7 ft/s. 200 m/s is 656.2 ft/s. 400 m/s is 1,312 ft/s. Use such a table when you need a quick check.
Checking by reversing
To check a “convert m/s to ft/s” calculation result, multiply the answer by 0.3048. If 10 m/s became 32.81 ft/s, then 32.81 times 0.3048 returns 10. A second test concerns size: the number in ft/s should be a little over three times the number in m/s.
Link to mph and km/h
To convert m/s to ft/s via other units, note that one m/s is 3.6 km/h and 2.237 mph. So 10 m/s is 36 km/h, 22.4 mph and 32.8 ft/s. If you hold the speed in mph, divide by 1.4667 to reach ft/s. All of these are the same velocity written on different scales.
Gravity in both systems
The standard acceleration of gravity is 9.80665 m/s² and 32.174 ft/s². The same factor, 3.28084, connects them. A stone dropped from rest is at 9.81 m/s after one second, 32.2 ft/s, and at 19.6 m/s after two, 64.3 ft/s. Physics students who must answer in both systems do the multiplication once and check it against these values.
A worked example
A ball is thrown straight up at 15 m/s. The maximum height is 15² / (2 × 9.81) = 11.47 metres. In feet per second the launch speed is 49.2, and the height is 49.2² / (2 × 32.174) = 37.6 feet, which is the same 11.47 metres. A “convert m/s to ft/s” calculation before the calculation changes nothing about the physics.
Pipes and pumps
European plumbing guidelines target 0.5 to 3 m/s in pipes, which is 1.6 to 9.8 ft/s. American manuals often recommend 4 to 8 ft/s for most circuits, which is 1.2 to 2.4 m/s. The ranges overlap a good deal, and a conversion lets a designer judge whether a catalogue pump suits a project from the other side of the Atlantic.
Lifts and hoists
An office lift in Europe may run at 1.6 to 4 m/s, which is 5.2 to 13.1 ft/s or 315 to 787 ft/min. American specifications are in feet per minute, so an exporter writes both in the data sheet and does not leave it to the buyer.
Falling precipitation
A large raindrop falls at nearly 9 m/s, 29.5 ft/s. Golf-ball sized hail may reach 20 m/s, 65.6 ft/s, and snowflakes drift down at about 1 m/s, 3.3 ft/s. Weather services outside the US use m/s in research, while American forecasters talk of mph, so data sets need a clear unit label.
The Gimli Glider
In 1983 a jet ran out of fuel in flight because the fuel load had been computed in pounds when the aircraft was metric, and the crew had to glide to a landing. Speeds are not fuel, but the lesson is the same. Whenever a quantity crosses between systems, write the unit next to it and convert once, on paper, in a way that someone else can check.
Aircraft take-off
An airliner lifts off at roughly 70 to 80 m/s, which is 230 to 262 ft/s. A supersonic aircraft can fly at 600 m/s, 1,969 ft/s. Pilots read their airspeed in knots, but test-flight reports in Europe and America use m/s and ft/s, and engineers compare them side by side.
Beaufort in feet per second
A wind of 10 m/s, 32.8 ft/s or 22 mph, is a fresh breeze. At 20 m/s, 65.6 ft/s, it is a gale. The lower limits of the strongest Beaufort forces, 17.2, 24.5 and 32.7 m/s, become 56, 80 and 107 ft/s. Table notes in both units help readers on either side of the ocean.
Kinetic energy of a runner
A 70 kg sprinter at 10.44 m/s carries 3.8 kJ, which is 2,814 ft-lbf. The speed is 34.2 ft/s. If you work with mass in slugs in the customary system you get the same energy, which shows the factor 3.2808 behaves in every equation.
Export documents: how to write both units
A good data sheet shows both units, such as "5 m/s (16.4 ft/s)". The metric value is primary, and the imperial one is rounded. Then nobody has to convert, and the risk of a disputed contract falls. Check the headings of tables as well, since a column labelled only "speed" invites errors.
Fitness trackers
Many trackers record speed in m/s or km/h, while American apps ask for mph. A cyclist at 8 m/s makes 26.2 ft/s, or 17.9 mph. A skater at 6 m/s makes 19.7 ft/s. When you export data from one app to another, convert m/s to ft/s once and keep the same unit throughout.
What a second looks like
At 1 m/s an object covers 3.28 feet, about a long stride. At 30 m/s, motorway speed, it covers 98 feet in a second, somewhat more than the length of a tennis court, which is 78. Imagining the distance covered in a second makes the order of magnitude easier to feel.
Braking distance
A car at 30 m/s, which is 108 km/h and 98.4 ft/s, braking at 7 m/s², stops in 64.3 metres. In customary units the deceleration is 23 ft/s² and the distance 211 feet. The values are identical, and only the units they are written in change.
Exchange students
Students on exchange programmes in the United States meet problems with data in ft/s and formulas that use g = 32.174 ft/s². Someone who learned mechanics in m/s has to rebuild reflexes. A strip on the cover of the notebook with 1 m/s = 3.28 ft/s and 1 ft/s = 0.3048 m/s prevents many exam errors.
Instrument accuracy
An anemometer accuracy of 0.1 m/s becomes 0.33 ft/s. If it indicates 4.5 m/s, the value in feet is 14.8 ± 0.3 ft/s. Writing 14.76378 ft/s would imply a precision the instrument does not have.
Evacuation modelling
European evacuation studies use 1.2 m/s for people in a crowd, which is 3.9 ft/s, and 0.6 m/s on stairs, 2 ft/s. American fire codes use 4 and 2 ft/s, so the figures match closely. Such agreement shows how well the practices fit, once a “convert m/s to ft/s” calculation puts them on one scale.
Speed skating and cycling
A long-track speed skater reaches roughly 14 m/s, 45.9 ft/s, in a 500 metre race. A cyclist on a velodrome in a one-hour attempt averages 15.4 m/s, 50.6 ft/s. The values are published in km/h in Europe, in mph in the United States and in m/s in the papers on aerodynamics, so the same performance appears in three guises.
Fire-hose jets
Water leaves a fire hose nozzle at about 25 m/s, 82 ft/s. From that speed one calculates the reach and the reaction force on the crew. Catalogues show both units, so firefighters trained abroad adapt quickly.
Delivery drones
A delivery drone cruises at 15 m/s, which is 49.2 ft/s or 33.6 mph. US rules for small drones limit ground speed to 100 mph, 44.7 m/s or 146.7 ft/s. A European manufacturer states its design limit in m/s and must show that it stays below the American figure in ft/s or mph.
Formula One
A Formula One car on a long straight can exceed 100 m/s, which is 360 km/h and 328 ft/s. During braking it slows from that speed to 20 m/s, 65.6 ft/s, in roughly three seconds. Telemetry engineers at teams with both European and American partners keep conversion tables beside the data.
Wind turbine design speeds
A turbine designed to IEC standards has a reference wind speed in m/s, such as 42.5 m/s for a class II machine, the 10-minute mean extreme at hub height. In feet per second it is 139, and in mph 95. A developer in the United States who uses a code in mph must go through m/s or ft/s to check compliance.
Speed of sound in ft/s
Sound travels at 343 m/s, or 1,125 ft/s, at 20 degrees Celsius, and at 340 m/s, 1,115 ft/s, at 15 degrees. Mach 1 at sea level is thus close to 1,116 ft/s in older American references. A gunnery or aviation text will use one of these, so the conversion decides which of two nearly equal numbers you should expect.
Animals
A cheetah's top speed is close to 29 m/s, 95 ft/s. A peregrine falcon in a dive passes 90 m/s, 295 ft/s. A brisk human walk is 2 m/s, 6.6 ft/s. Zoology texts in the two systems give different numbers for the same animal, and a table with both columns avoids the confusion.
Quick estimation
To convert m/s to ft/s in your head, multiply by 3 and add 9 per cent. For 10 m/s: 30 plus 2.7 gives 32.7 ft/s, close to the exact 32.81. For 100 m/s: 300 plus 27 gives 327 ft/s, against 328.08. The shortcut is accurate to about a third of a per cent.
Spreadsheet formulas
To convert m/s to ft/s in a spreadsheet, put the values in m/s in column A and type =A2*3.28084 in column B. For feet per minute add a column with =B2*60. Label each column with its unit in the header, so a document sent to a client leaves no room for doubt.
More values for convert m/s to ft/s
A longer list of conversions
If the value you need is not in the first list, these further conversions may be close enough to read off directly:
- 0.1 m/s = 0.328084 ft/s
- 0.5 m/s = 1.64042 ft/s
- 3 m/s = 9.84252 ft/s
- 4 m/s = 13.1234 ft/s
- 7 m/s = 22.9659 ft/s
- 15 m/s = 49.2126 ft/s
- 20 m/s = 65.6168 ft/s
- 75 m/s = 246.063 ft/s
- 200 m/s = 656.168 ft/s
- 500 m/s = 1,640.42 ft/s
- 2,000 m/s = 6,561.68 ft/s
- 10,000 m/s = 32,808.4 ft/s
Common slips when you convert m/s to ft/s
Dividing by 3.2808
From m/s to ft/s the number grows. If 10 m/s turned into 3, you used the factor for the opposite direction.
Confusing ft/s with ft/min
American ventilation catalogues give velocity in feet per minute. 5 m/s is 16.4 ft/s but 984 ft/min. Without the unit, the difference is a factor of 60.
Rounding too early
If the speed will enter an energy formula, keep the full digits until the final result.
Short answers
How do I convert m/s to ft/s?
Multiply the m/s figure by 3.2808.
How many ft/s is 10 m/s?
32.81 ft/s.
How many ft/s is 340 m/s?
1,115.5 ft/s.
How many m/s is 1 ft/s?
0.3048 m/s.
Does my number leave my device?
No, the calculation runs in your browser.
Where to go next
For other speed conversions see Convert m/s to km/h, Convert m/s to Mach, Convert km/h to ft/s, Convert mph to ft/s, Convert ft/s to km/h, Convert km to mi, Convert mi to km, Convert °C to °F, Convert °F to °C. The reverse direction is Convert ft/s to m/s.
To sum up: from metres per second to feet per second you multiply by 3.2808 and write the unit beside the result. What you enter stays in your browser, with no account and no upload.