What is the difference between mass and weight?

What is the difference between mass and weight?

• A. Mass is how much matter; weight is the gravity force on that mass.
• B. Mass is weight; weight is mass.
• C. Mass changes with gravity; weight stays the same.
• D. Mass measures volume; weight measures density.

Answer: (D)

Mass is how much matter is in an object. Weight is the force of gravity pulling on that mass. Because gravity can be stronger or weaker in different places, weight can change, but mass stays the same. You measure mass in kilograms, and you measure weight in newtons (or pounds in everyday use). For example, a 10-kilogram object has the same mass on Earth and the Moon, but it weighs more on Earth than on the Moon because Earth’s gravity is stronger. The other ideas don’t fit: swapping mass and weight isn’t correct, mass doesn’t change with gravity, and mass isn’t a measure of volume while weight isn’t a measure of density.

Mass is how much matter is in an object. Weight is the force of gravity pulling on that mass. Because gravity can be stronger or weaker in different places, weight can change, but mass stays the same. You measure mass in kilograms, and you measure weight in newtons (or pounds in everyday use). For example, a 10-kilogram object has the same mass on Earth and the Moon, but it weighs more on Earth than on the Moon because Earth’s gravity is stronger.

The other ideas don’t fit: swapping mass and weight isn’t correct, mass doesn’t change with gravity, and mass isn’t a measure of volume while weight isn’t a measure of density.