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Originally Posted by jocampo
Seriously, you really want me to clarify?
W = m*g
"W" is weight, "m" mass and "g" gravity, where gravity is 9.81 m s−2. You weight nothing on the moon, because there is no gravity. Mass cannot be Weight on earth because could means there is no gravity, hence you will be floating in the air.
Common people refer as mass and weight like same, but it is not. And to be more exact, our weigh is not even measured in pounds or kilograms, but Newtons. But my main point is that mass and weight should not be used interchangeable.
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I was sloppy when I said that the values are interchangeable on earth. The units are not, but at sea level on earth, it has become acceptable and meaningful to list weight in kilograms even though the unit properly refers to mass. Your above statements are correct until you get to weighing nothing on the moon, astronauts don't just float away into space when they do a moon walk.
Please look at the link I cited, unless you don't trust physics professors at the University of California. Since this has gotten so very
I'd be happy to continue elsewhere on the forums (lounge?) or perhaps in private messages. Or not, if you prefer.
(Edit: After some further research I'm wondering if we're talking about two different systems. Under the SI, International System, the kilogram is the basic unit of mass. Under an older parlance, "kilogram" could be used to refer to "kilogram-force," which could indeed be called a weight as it is the earth gravitational force acting on one kilogram of mass. Here's the reference
http://www.unc.edu/~rowlett/units/dictK.html#kilogram, and if you're interested that entire site appears to be very interesting.)
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Originally Posted by SolRaven
I thought graham was a type of cracker.
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Ooh, not fair, now I want graham crackers!