Which statement best differentiates mass from weight?

Which statement best differentiates mass from weight?

• A. Mass is a measure of the amount of matter (scalar); Weight is the gravitational force on a mass (vector), W = m g.
• B. Mass and weight are identical.
• C. Mass is a vector; Weight is a scalar.
• D. Weight is the amount of matter.

Answer: (A)

Mass is the amount of matter an object contains, and it has no direction—it's a scalar. Weight, on the other hand, is the gravitational force acting on that mass; it has both magnitude and direction (a vector), pointing toward the planet’s center. The relationship is W = m g, so the weight depends on both the mass and the local gravitational field strength g. Because gravity can vary with location, weight can change while mass stays the same. That’s why the statement describing mass as the amount of matter (scalar) and weight as the gravitational force on that mass (vector) with W = m g is the best differentiation.

Mass is the amount of matter an object contains, and it has no direction—it's a scalar. Weight, on the other hand, is the gravitational force acting on that mass; it has both magnitude and direction (a vector), pointing toward the planet’s center. The relationship is W = m g, so the weight depends on both the mass and the local gravitational field strength g. Because gravity can vary with location, weight can change while mass stays the same. That’s why the statement describing mass as the amount of matter (scalar) and weight as the gravitational force on that mass (vector) with W = m g is the best differentiation.