Explain why mass and weight should not be used interchangeably.

Mass is a property of an object, a cloud of gas, a puddle of liquid, or a lump of goo, and doesn't necessarily change when the object moves to a different location or environment. It depends only on the object itself.
Weight is completely a product of what else is in the nearby location,so it can easily change. It's the result of the gravitational forces between two objects . . . the first one with the constant mass, and another one that also has mass. The forces between them, and therefore the weight, depend on both masses, AND on the distance between them.

Answered by AL2006 | 2024-06-10

Mass is the quantity of matter in an object, which does not change regardless of location, while weight is the force of gravity acting on that mass, which can vary based on location. Because weight depends on gravitational force, it changes depending on where you are, unlike mass. This distinction is essential in physics to avoid confusion about these two related but different concepts.
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Answered by AL2006 | 2024-10-02