Conceptually I understand that mass is a measure of the amount of stuff present in an object, while weight is a measure of the force of gravity applied to that object. An object of a given mass will have a bigger weight on Earth than on the moon because Earth’s gravity is stronger. But… mass is determined by weighing an object on a scale. And there is a simple mathematical conversion between grams (mass) and pounds (weight), implying that they’re just different units for the same concept. So what gives? (Also this is a question that applies to so many fields, I had no idea which flair to apply.)
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>But… mass is determined by weighing an object on a scale.
The scale experiences the force of your weight (w=mg), but since acceleration due to gravity (g) is constant, it is calibrated to show you the mass (m) of the object that should be producing the weight (w) it is experiencing
In other words, the scale is a sort of a calculator for mass
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