Re: weight = mass or force?
- From: "Pmb" <peter102560_nospam@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 5 Jan 2007 22:30:24 -0500
"Phil Carmody" <thefatphil_demunged@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:87sleprsy1.fsf@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
I'm curious if anyone has any comment on the following, seen
on a .edu site (belonging to a prof in the physical sciences)
<<<
Scientists use the SI system of units. The main units we'll need are
these:
[SNIP several "measurement: unit (imperial equivalent). Description"s ]
Force: newton (0.225 pounds). Lots of people confuse mass and weight.
Weight is a force, the pull of earth's gravity on a mass. A newton is the
weight - force exerted by - about 100 grams.
I'm wondering where the confusion lies...
Phil
A lot of people confuse weight with mass. Consider an astronaut going to the
moon. When he weighs himself on Earth he'll get the value W = mg where m is
his gravitational mass and g is the local acceleration due to gravity.
Notice how the relationship between weight and force is directly
proportional. This means that the more weight a person has on earth the more
mass the person has. When he goes to the moon and weighs himself the value
he gets will be less since the local acceleration due to gravity will be
less. Some people confuse this by thinking that the astronaut now has less
mass. That is where the lies.
Pete
.
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