Mass, Weight and Gravity

MASS AND WEIGHT ARE NOT THE SAME THING

Gravity attracts all masses, but you only notice it when one of the masses is really really big e,g, a planet. Anything near a planet or star is attracted to it very strongly

This has three very important effects:

• On the surface of the planet, it makes all things accelerate towards the ground (all with the same acceleration,g, which is about 10m/s2 on Earth)
• It gives everything a weight
• It keeps planets, moons and satellites in their orbits. The orbit is a balance between the forward motion of the object and the force of gravity pulling it inwards

Facts about Mass and Weight

• Mass is just the amount of stuff in an object. For any given object this will have the same value anywhere in the Universe
• Weight is caused by…