What is the difference between mass and weight?

What is the difference between mass and weight?

• A. Mass is affected by gravity.
• B. Weight is the amount of matter.
• C. Mass is the amount of matter; weight is the gravitational force on that mass.
• D. Weight is constant regardless of location.

Answer: (C)

Mass is a measure of how much matter something has, while weight is the gravitational force acting on that mass. They’re linked by W = m g, so weight changes with the strength of gravity, but mass stays the same regardless of location. For example, a 10 kg object weighs about 98 N on Earth, but would weigh only about 16 N on the Moon, even though its mass is still 10 kg. The other statements mix up these ideas: mass isn’t affected by gravity, weight isn’t the amount of matter, and weight isn’t constant everywhere because gravity varies.

Mass is a measure of how much matter something has, while weight is the gravitational force acting on that mass. They’re linked by W = m g, so weight changes with the strength of gravity, but mass stays the same regardless of location. For example, a 10 kg object weighs about 98 N on Earth, but would weigh only about 16 N on the Moon, even though its mass is still 10 kg. The other statements mix up these ideas: mass isn’t affected by gravity, weight isn’t the amount of matter, and weight isn’t constant everywhere because gravity varies.