Question #07fbe

1 Answer
Kelly L
Oct 27, 2017

The mass of an object is constant, but the weight of an object depends on how much gravity pulls on it.

Explanation:

Although these two things can be used interchangeably in everyday speech, they are two different concepts .

Mass is a measure of how much matter an object has (the number of atoms). The unit of mass is a kilogram.

Weight is a measure of how hard gravity pulls on an object (the mass times the acceleration due to gravity, #W = mg#). The unit of weight is a Newton.

If an Astronaut is standing on the Earth or the Moon, her mass will not change (she has the same amount of matter) but her weight will change (because the Moon is smaller and its gravity pulls on her with less force).

Related questions
Impact of this question
976 views around the world
You can reuse this answer
Creative Commons License