Mass explanation: I’ve always been told that mass was not the same as weight, and that grams are the metric unit of mass. But grams are a measurement of weight, so am I stupid, was it was explained to me wrong, or is science just not make sense?

Question

Mass explanation: I’ve always been told that mass was not the same as weight, and that grams are the metric unit of mass. But grams are a measurement of weight, so am I stupid, was it was explained to me wrong, or is science just not make sense?

In: 140

Answer 1

Mass is a property, it describes an object. Mass is how much stuff makes up an object.

Weight is a force, it tells you how hard an object is pulled towards the earth, or whatever planet/object you are measuring the weight on.

Weight is related to mass, it is actually the mass multiplied acceleration due to gravity (W = mg).

It’s confusing because people talk about their weight but us units for mass. I’m sure it wouldn’t work out well if you asked someone how massive they are though!