Scribd
Upload
58 views1 page

Weight and Mass NOTES

Mass is an object's quantity of matter and does not change in different locations in the universe, while weight depends on the force of gravity and differs between locations. Weight is a measure of the gravitational force acting on an object, which is proportional to its mass. More mass means more weight as there is more material for gravity to pull on. Scales actually measure weight in newtons by converting it to mass units like kilograms for convenience.

Uploaded by

EDWARD TORRES-BALDERAS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
58 views1 page

Weight and Mass NOTES

Mass is an object's quantity of matter and does not change in different locations in the universe, while weight depends on the force of gravity and differs between locations. Weight is a measure of the gravitational force acting on an object, which is proportional to its mass. More mass means more weight as there is more material for gravity to pull on. Scales actually measure weight in newtons by converting it to mass units like kilograms for convenience.

Uploaded by

EDWARD TORRES-BALDERAS
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
Available Formats
Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
You are on page 1/ 1

Name:____________________________________

Date:________________
Period:______
Weight and Mass NOTES
(aka YOU keep these!)

WHAT IS THE DIFFERENCE between weight and mass?

WE OFTEN USE THE WORDS ‘_______________ AND ‘____________________ INTERCHANGEABLY, BUT


THEY MEAN QUITE _____________________ THINGS.

Your _________________ is the ______________ no matter where you go in the universe; your
____________________, on the other hand, changes from place to place.

Mass depends on how much _________________ - ________________ and so on - there is in an object.

Weight, on the other hand, is a measure of the amount of ____________________ force that
_________________________ exerts on an object.

Basically, left to its own devices, an object will stay put or move in a straight line - think of a puck on an
air hockey table. Unless some force - like friction, or banging into a wall - acts on the puck, it will keep
sliding on the same path forever. Mass is a measure of how much force it will take to change that path.

However, more ____________________ means more ________________, as there is more to get


moving. (This is Isaac Newton’s idea of mass, which underpins his famous laws of motion developed in
the late 1600s. It is not quite accurate at extremely high speeds, where Albert Einstein’s 20th-century
theory of special relativity is required, but its fine for most everyday situations.)

Weight

Weight, on the other hand, is a measure of the amount of downwards force that gravity exerts on an
object. This ____________________ increases with the object’s mass: the more _________________ it
has, the harder gravity pulls. On Earth’s surface, the force of gravity is about 9.8 _________________
per kilogram. It’s only because we are used to dealing with conditions on the _____________________
of Earth that we use often use ‘mass’ and ‘weight’ __________________________________. When we
say someone weighs 70 kilos, we really mean their mass – their __________________ would be 70 * 9.8
= 686 _____________________-. (This force – 686 newtons – is actually what bathroom scales are
measuring. They convert it into kilograms or pounds for convenience.)

Even on the International Space Station, where astronauts are ____________________, they still have
mass: they must still exert _______________________ to push themselves off the walls or pull
themselves along, and the ___________________- they
are the _________________ force it will take.

So how do we find out weight?! With an equation!

1. Gravity on Earth is 9.8. If a wooden block has a mass of


837 kg, what is its weight on earth?

You might also like