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

As others have said, mass is how much of something there is, while weight is how gravity affects that amount of mass. If I remember correctly from high school physics, weight is equal to mass x the acceleration of gravity. Therefore your weight is relative to your location (on earth, mars, or in space).