>What is a Newton Meter and how would I go about measuring it?

 Torque.  (force, in newtons, times lever arm, in meters)

 You measure it with a torque wrench.  More precisely, you
 tighten it with a torque wrench, stopping when you reach
 the desired value.  There are several species of torque
 wrenches out there, so shop for one that has the features
 and precision you desire.  

 Americans often measure torque in foot-pounds, and tech manuals
 often give both values or a conversion table.  You can also do
 the conversion by hand (Newton to pound-force, meter to feet).  
 My wrench is calibrated in both english and metric, but uses
 bastard metric units of daNm (deka Nm = 10 Nm) or kgforce*m.

 150 foot-pounds is 20.7 daNm = 207 Nm based on my wrench,
 which checks daNm = 10 Nm (about 1 kg * 9.8 m/s^2) being
 about 2.2 pounds * 3.3 feet = 7.26 foot pounds.  You can
 get more precise conversion factors if you want them.

–
 James A. Carr   <j…@scri.fsu.edu>     | Commercial e-mail is _NOT_
    http://www.scri.fsu.edu/~jac/       | desired to this or any address
 Supercomputer Computations Res. Inst.  | that resolves to my account
 Florida State, Tallahassee FL 32306    | for any reason at any time.