What is Mass?
Mass is the amount of matter that is present in the object. The mass of an object remains constant no matter where it is placed.
Suppose, we have two same objects out of which one is placed on the Earth and the other is placed on the moon. Since, the matter in the object is not changing, the mass of the object will be the same in each of the cases.
The standard unit of mass is Kilogram (Kg).
What is Inertia?
Inertia is the tendency of an object to resist change in its state of motion or rest. The mass of an object is a measure of its inertia. Inertia is directly proportional to the mass of an object.
What is Weight?
The weight of an object is the measurement of the gravitational force acting on it. It is a measure of how strongly gravity pulls on the matter.
Formula of Weight
According to Newton’s second law of motion, force is equal to mass into acceleration,
𝐹 = 𝑚 × 𝑎
When it’s the acceleration due to gravity, a = g
𝐹 = 𝑚 × 𝑔
This force due to gravity will be equal to the weight of the object, W. So,
𝑊 = 𝑚 × 𝑔
This means the weight of an object is the product of its mass and acceleration due to gravity. The SI unit of weight is Newton (N) which is the same as Force. As the value of g at a particular place is constant, the weight of the object is directly proportional to its mass.
𝑊 𝛼 𝑚
What is the difference between Mass and Weight?
The mass of an object remains constant everywhere whereas the weight on an object depends on the gravitational force at the location.
If an object of the same mass is placed at two different places and the gravitational force at one place is more than the other, then the mass of the object will be the same at both places. But, the weight of the object will be greater at the second place because the pull of gravity is stronger.