Weight

Claimed by mxu86 (Michael Xu)

A page about weight as a property of matter.

The Main Idea

In physics, weight describes the Gravitational Force upon a mass, usually relative to Earth or a planet. Depending on the source, weight may be defined as a scalar - the magnitude of the gravitational force on an object - or a vector equal to gravitational force. An object's weight is commonly confused with mass, but instead it is a force that depends on another body of matter, while mass is an intrinsic property of matter.

A Mathematical Model

A mass m's weight near the surface of the Earth is represented by [math]\displaystyle{ {\vec{W} = \vec{F}_{g} = {mg}} }[/math] where g is the gravitation acceleration of Earth, -9.8 meters per second squared.

[math]\displaystyle{ {\frac{d\vec{p}}{dt}}_{system} = \vec{F}_{net} }[/math] where p is the momentum of the system and F is the net force from the surroundings.

A Computational Model

A simple segment of code that calculates the both scalar and vector weight (gravitational force) exerted upon a ball.

<iframe src="https://trinket.io/embed/glowscript/e47d83e127?toggleCode=true" width="100%" height="356" frameborder="0" marginwidth="0" marginheight="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

Examples

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