Most people use the terms ‘weight’ and ‘mass’ interchangeably in their everyday conversations and who can blame them? After all, they are both general properties of mass.
But as it turns out, there are distinct differences between ‘weight’ and ‘mass’ and they do not mean the same thing.
So… it’s time to clarify things. (the article continues after the ad)
MASS
Put simply, mass is the amount of matter in a certain object. That being said, the mass of an object will remain the same regardless of its location. For example, a solid iron brick will have the same mass whether it’s on Earth or the Moon.
WEIGHT
Weight is a different story. Weight indicates the force of gravity (acceleration) as regards to its mass; how gravity affects a certain object. By definition alone, you can understand that weight depends on location. If you take that same solid iron brick to the moon, its mass may be the same but its weight will change because Moon’s gravity is significantly less than that of Earths (it’s actually 1/6th of Earth’s gravity).
Here’s a table comparing ‘weight’ and ‘mass’:
Now you know!
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Sources: What Is the Difference Between Weight and Mass? | Questions and Answer: What do we use to measure mass? | Mass vs. Weight