Definition of Weight
Weight of a body is defined as follows,
Weight of a body is the gravitational force by which it is attracted towards a planet.
Weight of a body is often confused with the body’s mass, which measures the amount of matter contained in a body. However, the body’s weight is the body mass multiplied by the acceleration due to gravity on the planet.
The weight of a body is different on different planets due to different values of acceleration due to gravity on various planets. For Earth, acceleration due to gravity is taken as 9.8 ms-2.
Weight Formula
The formula for weight is written as follows,
W = mg
where,
W = weight of the body,
m = mass of the body, and
g = acceleration due to gravity.
Unit of Weight
Unit of Weight is Newton represented as N, which is also known as the force of gravity on a mass. Weight of the body is the gravitational force by which the earth or any other planet attracts the body. Other weight units are pound-force, metric ton, slug, quintal, kilogram-force (kgf) and dyne.
In this article, we will discuss the definition of weight, unit of weight, conversion between the unit of weight in various systems, and some sample problems related to the unit of weight.