Mass vs. Weight: Exploring the Difference

[Vorbis]

Sorry for the unoriginal question but what is the differnece between mass and weight? Its been bothering me lately Does mass change? What exactly is mass?

 

[0xDEADBEEF]

Check wikipedia:

In modern scientific usage, however, weight and mass are fundamentally different quantities: mass is an intrinsic property of matter, whereas weight is a force that results from the action of gravity on matter: it measures how strongly gravity pulls on that matter.

So your weight on the moon is less albeit your mass is the same.


What is mass?
Mass is the m in $$F=m\cdot a$$
And Mass is what causes gravity.

Mass is where the search ends, we haven't discovered some inner mechanism that produces it.

 

[Vorbis]

What do the veriables mean in the formula?

 

[ZapperZ]

Many of your questions are very basic in nature. May I suggest you look at the hyperphysics website for many of these things that may answer a lot of your questions, and possibly future ones.

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/HFrame.html

For this particular question, read this:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mass.html

Zz.

 

[Vorbis]

Thanks zapper