The term ‘slug’ is indeed a valid unit of mass, but it is not commonly used in everyday life. It is primarily used in certain fields of physics and engineering, particularly in the United States.
In the context of the imperial system, the slug is defined as the mass that is accelerated by one foot per second squared when a force of one pound is applied. In more familiar terms, one slug is equivalent to approximately 14.59 kilograms. This relationship is derived from Newton’s second law of motion, where force equals mass times acceleration (F = ma).
While the slug is a legitimate unit, the metric system’s kilograms and grams are more widely used globally, which can lead to confusion. For practical purposes, it’s more common for people to refer to mass in kilograms or grams in most daily applications.