Mass vs. Weight

There are many differences and many similarities between mass and weight. Mass and weight measure different properties of an object. Mass is the measurement of matter that an object has, or the amount of “stuff” inside of it. While mass measures the amount of matter in an object’s weight measures the gravitational force on an object’s mass. Another difference between mass and weight is that they are measured in different units. Weight is measured in Newton’s (n), and Mass is measured in Kilograms (kg), Grams (g), or Milligrams (mg). They are both measured on different scales. Mass is measured on a triple beam balance while Weight is measured on a spring scale. Although mass and weight are very different, they are very important to science and the everyday life of many people.
Although there are many differences between mass and weight there are also some similarities between the two. Both weight and mass are units of measurement that are very important. Also, they both use scales to find their value. The similarities between mass and weight tie the two units together.
The most important difference between mass and weight is that mass does not change depending on the gravity of your location and weight does. Since weight is the measure of the force of gravity on an object’s mass, if there is a different amount of gravity from one place to another, an objects mass would change. For example, on Saturn your mass is the same as your mass on earth, but your weight is more than your weight on earth because there is more gravity.   Weight is measured in Newton’s, because a Newton is mass multiplied by the acceleration of gravity. Weight is also the mass multiplied by the acceleration of gravity, so Newton’s are used to measure weight. A Newton is used to measure a foce and weight is a force. Mass and weight are very similar in many ways, but have distinct differences that separate them from one another.