Meganeuton

Meganeuton (symbol MN) is a unit of force equal to one million newtons. It is formed from the SI prefix mega- and the derived unit newton (N); therefore 1 MN = 1 × 10^6 N and 1 MN = 1,000,000 kg·m/s^2.

In practice, the meganeuton is rarely used in everyday engineering; the standard practice is to express forces in newtons or, for larger forces, kilonewtons (kN) and meganewtons (MN). The preferred term in technical writing is meganewton, with MN as its symbol; meganeuton is considered an uncommon or informal variant.

Applications include aerospace, large-scale structural loads, and blast or impact analyses where forces are very large. For context, a single modern rocket engine typically produces about 0.3–1 MN of thrust; launch vehicles with multiple engines can reach tens of MN. The Saturn V, for example, had a liftoff thrust on the order of 34 MN.

Derived from the SI system, the meganeuton is consistent with SI usage of prefixes applied to all appropriate units, and it is not a separate physical constant or dimension. The term honors the same roots as the Newton, named after Isaac Newton.