Part 02 · Newton's laws and forces · Card 5 of 10
Weight
The pull of gravity on an object, found with W = mg. Mass stays the same everywhere, weight does not.
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Analogy
Your mass is how much stuff you are made of. Your weight is how hard Earth pulls it.
Example
Weight on Earth
W = m gW = 70 kg x 9.8 m/s^2W = 686 N
In practice
A 70 kg person weighs about 686 N on Earth and about 113 N on the Moon.
Practice
Flashcards
- What is the weight of a 10 kg mass on Earth?About 98 N.
Questions people ask
Why is weight different on the Moon?
Weight is mass times local gravity. The Moon's surface gravity is about 1.6 m/s^2, roughly one sixth of Earth's. A 60 kg person weighs about 588 N on Earth and only about 96 N on the Moon, but their mass is still 60 kg.
Is weight measured in kilograms?
In physics, no. Weight is a force, so its SI unit is the newton. People say a bag weighs 5 kg in daily life, but they really mean its mass. The weight of a 5 kg bag on Earth is about 49 N.