What is the formula to calculate weight?

What is the formula to calculate weight?

• A. Weight equals mass times acceleration due to gravity.
• B. Weight equals mass divided by gravity.
• C. Weight equals gravity minus mass.
• D. Weight equals mass plus gravity.

Answer: (A)

Weight is the force exerted by gravity on an object's mass. The correct relationship is W = m g, where m is mass and g is the acceleration due to gravity. This shows that weight depends on how much matter there is and how strong the gravitational field is. On Earth, g is about 9.8 m/s^2, so a 1 kg mass weighs about 9.8 newtons, and a 5 kg mass weighs about 49 newtons. If you were on the Moon, with weaker gravity, the same 5 kg mass would weigh less even though its mass is unchanged. The other options don’t describe a force arising from gravity: they mix mass and gravity in nonproductive ways such as division, subtraction, or addition, which don’t yield the gravitational force.

Weight is the force exerted by gravity on an object's mass. The correct relationship is W = m g, where m is mass and g is the acceleration due to gravity. This shows that weight depends on how much matter there is and how strong the gravitational field is. On Earth, g is about 9.8 m/s^2, so a 1 kg mass weighs about 9.8 newtons, and a 5 kg mass weighs about 49 newtons. If you were on the Moon, with weaker gravity, the same 5 kg mass would weigh less even though its mass is unchanged. The other options don’t describe a force arising from gravity: they mix mass and gravity in nonproductive ways such as division, subtraction, or addition, which don’t yield the gravitational force.