MASS, MOMENTUM,

AND ENERGY
CONVERSATION
INERTIA , MASS , AND WEIGHT

Oftentimes, we hear people use the term mass and

weight interchangeably. When a person is asked to
give his weight, he normally specifies the value in
kilograms, a mass unit. In physics, there is a
distinction between the two.

2
EXAMPLE:

The bag of rice in Figure 7-

15 does not weigh 1 kg. It
has a mass of 1kg and a
weight of about 10 N on Mass = 1 kg
Earth. weight = 10 N

3
INERTIA

Recall the inertia is the resistance of a

body to change its state of rest or uniform
motion. To illustrate the concept, consider
a boulder and a small piece of rock, which
are resting on a smooth floor (see Figure
7-16 below). You know that the boulder
has a larger mass than a small piece of
rock and is more difficult to move. Here
Figure 7-16
you see that the mass of an object is a
measure of inertia. 4
 MASS AND WEIGHT

Mass is more fundamental than weight. It is the measure of

the actual material present in a body, Mass depends only on
the number and kind of atoms that compose the body. On
the other hand, the weight of a body is the gravitational
force that acts on the material, and depends on where the
object is located. There is a very close relationship between
mass and weight and it is important to understand it.

20XX PRESENTATION TITLE 5

In the case of an object near or on the surface
of the Earth the force which gravity experts
on it is its weight. This is the force that
causes an object to fall with a constant
acceleration g, called the acceleration due to
gravity, when no other force acts on it.

20XX PRESENTATION TITLE 6