What is weight?

What is weight?

• A. The mass of an object.
• B. The distance between two points.
• C. The force due to inertia.
• D. The force with which gravity of the earth attracts a mass.

Answer: (D)

Weight is the gravitational force acting on a mass. It depends on both how much matter there is (the mass) and how strong gravity is where you are, and it’s given by W = m g. That means weight changes with location (Earth, Moon, etc.) because the acceleration due to gravity, g, differs, while mass stays the same. For example, on Earth with g ≈ 9.8 m/s^2, a 10 kg mass weighs about 98 newtons. This distinguishes weight from mass, since mass is the amount of matter and remains constant, regardless of location. It also isn’t about distance or inertia; inertia is the tendency to resist changes in motion, not a force, whereas weight is a real force produced by gravity acting on the mass.

Weight is the gravitational force acting on a mass. It depends on both how much matter there is (the mass) and how strong gravity is where you are, and it’s given by W = m g. That means weight changes with location (Earth, Moon, etc.) because the acceleration due to gravity, g, differs, while mass stays the same. For example, on Earth with g ≈ 9.8 m/s^2, a 10 kg mass weighs about 98 newtons. This distinguishes weight from mass, since mass is the amount of matter and remains constant, regardless of location. It also isn’t about distance or inertia; inertia is the tendency to resist changes in motion, not a force, whereas weight is a real force produced by gravity acting on the mass.