Home | Physics | Difference Between Mass And Weight

Difference Between Mass And Weight

October 5, 2022
written by Adeel Abbas

The difference between mass and weight is that mass is the property of an object that tends to maintain its current state of rest or motion. The force that is generated by the earth’s gravity on an object or mass is referred to as weight.

What is Mass?

It’s the most basic property of matter, and it’s one of the fundamental quantities in physics. Mass is the measure of the amount of material in a body. There is a unit of mass called a Kilogram. 

In physics, mass is not the same as weight, even though mass is often determined by measuring the object’s weight using a spring scale, rather than a balance scale and comparing it directly with known mass.

Because of the lower gravity, an object on the Moon would weigh less than it would on Earth, but it would still have the same mass. This is due to the fact that weight and mass are properties that determine the strength of this force.

What is Weight?

The concept of weight is essential in understanding how the earth’s gravity affects bodies in motion. Weight is measured in units of mass and is calculated by multiplying a body’s mass by the earth’s gravitational acceleration. The equation for calculating weight is as follows:

weight = mass x acceleration

Weight is measured in Newton and is calculated by multiplying a body’s mass by the earth’s gravitational acceleration. The difference between weight and mass is that weight is a force applied to an object and mass is the resistance a force encounters when pushing an object. When calculating the weight of an object, the mass is used to calculate the weight.

Difference Between Mass And Weight

There is some difference between mass and weight.

WeightMass
The force that is generated by the earth’s gravity on an object or mass is referred to as weight.Mass is the property of an object that tends to maintain its current state of rest or motion
Weight can be zero.Mass can not be zero.
Weight is a vector quantity.Mass is a scalar quantity.
The measuring unit of weight is Newton.The unit of mass is the kilogram.
Ordinary balance is used to measure the mass.Weight is measured by a spring balance.