Weight and Mass

Chris suggested I do a physics blog, so here you are. prepare for ultimate nerdiness.

As many of you probably already know, there is a fundamental difference between something's (or someone's) weight and there mass. Mass, or the amount of matter that exists in the object being measured, is the same everywhere in the universe. Whereas the weight of an object is the force of gravity acting on on the object, that is dependent on mass. Weight will shift depending on the pull of gravity. You would way much different on the moon or on Jupiter than you would here, but you mass would always be the same. Weight is the acceleration of gravity multiplied by mass.

So, if you wanted to find out how massive you are (no, I'm not calling any of you fat), you would first have to find the force of gravity acting on you in Newtons (another measurement of force or weight (N)). There are approximately 4.45 Newtons in a pound. So first, multiply your weight in pounds by 4.45 to get your weight in Newtons. Then, since the acceleration of gravity is about 9.81 meters per second squared, that's 9.81N for every kilogram, you divide you weight in Newtons by 9.81. The answer you get will be your mass in kilograms (kg).

Now to find how much you would weigh on Jupiter, just multiply your mass by the acceleration of gravity found on Jupiter. The gravitational force of Jupiter is about 25.9 meters per second squared. Or 25.9N for every one kilogram. Multiply your mass by 25.9 and again, you'll get your weight in Newtons. You would then just divide what you get by 4.45 and you would have you weight in pounds.

I would weight about 370 lbs on Jupiter. How much would you weigh?