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?
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Mass is a measure of inertia – how hard something is to push. An empty shopping cart is easier to push than a full one because the full one has more mass. The official metric unit of mass is the kilogram which is 1000 grams. Grams are **not** a measure of weight.
Weight is a measure of how hard something is getting pulled to the ground by gravity. Holding an empty shopping cart above your head is easier than holding a full one above your head because the full one is heavier. Weight is a force, and the official metric unit of force is the Newton.
For some reason, in our universe, weight is proportional to mass – that is, the more mass something has, the more it weighs (when all else is equal). And on earth, the force of gravity is almost the same everywhere. So for all everyday purposes, how much something weighs can tell you how much mass it has and vice versa. This is why people get the two confused. But if you take your shopping cart to the moon, it will be just as hard to push in the moon-supermarket because it has the same mass, but it will be easier to lift above your head because it weighs less (because there is less gravity on the moon).
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