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Mass is a quality of matter (apparently a construct of the Higgs field, but that's probably a little more answer than you were looking for). Weight is mass acted on by gravity.

Mass is usually stated in units of kilograms. Weight can also be stated in kilograms, but is sometimes expressed in newtons.

The mass stays constant, while the weight can change. If you are 90 kg, then on the moon your mass would still be 90 kg, but your weight would be one sixth of that, 15 kg. Weight is the force of attraction exerted on you by the moon or the earth, whichever you happen to be standing on.

In science and engineering mass is described in kilograms, while weight (force) is measured in Newtons which goes back to Newton's second law of motion: force equals mass times the rate of change of momentum. In most cases that can be simplified to force equals mass times acceleration.

A force of 1 Newton causes a 1 kg mass in free motion to increase its speed by 1 meter per second every second.

In practice on the earth's surface a 1 kg mass has a weight of 9.81 Newtons, but in everyday language we say its weight is 1 kg because that works for everyone who is not an astronaut :).

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12y ago

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