# What is the unit of weight?



## Deleted member 26636 (Feb 2, 2009)

I had a random debate with a friend of mine who said that the unit of weight is only newton & it can never be kg! He says that kg is the unit of mass only.Is this correct?what exactly is the unit of weight?does it change in certain conditions?if so what conditions?please tell me as i am only getting conflicting answers on the internet & i have quite forgotten my physics.


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## Faun (Feb 2, 2009)

wright is measured as force exerted at COM...lol...rofl...
But seriously I lost all my physics concepts too


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## sakumar79 (Feb 2, 2009)

kg is the unit of mass only and not weight... Weight is measured in Newtons and kg-f (kilogram force, which is kg x acceleration due to gravity... Loosely, we use kg to measure weight while actually we are measuring mass... Do note that 1kg=1kg-f so, instead of saying weight is 50kg, we should say weight is 50kg-f....

Arun


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## mrbgupta (Feb 2, 2009)

*hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/mass.html


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## a_k_s_h_a_y (Feb 2, 2009)

Unit of Weight is Newtons. Not Kgs. Mass is Kgs.
And what you measure using scales is MASS in Kgs, Not weight......


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## eggman (Feb 3, 2009)

I came Too late....everyone replied already!!


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## Deleted member 26636 (Feb 3, 2009)

thanx for the replies...


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## infra_red_dude (Feb 3, 2009)

a_k_s_h_a_y said:


> Unit of Weight is Newtons. Not Kgs. Mass is Kgs.
> And what you measure using scales is MASS in Kgs, Not weight......


Err.. what you measure on scales is weight and NOT mass. You cannot measure mass directly when you haf gravitational force.


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## krates (Feb 5, 2009)

Newton as it is *a force* with which a earth attracts an object...


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## a_k_s_h_a_y (Feb 6, 2009)

its weight measured, but displayed is mass. lol


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## confused!! (Feb 6, 2009)

Weight is measured in newton from what I remeber from my schooldays...But mere liye toh weight hamesha kgs mein hi rahega...atleast till I lose 15 *KGS*


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## Aberforth (Feb 9, 2009)

Mass is an absolute unit. An iron block of one kg will be one kg wherever it is in the universe. While weight is the force of gravity exerted on object by another object. Spring or electronic balances measure weight while pan balances measure mass. For example, if a material gives a reading of 1000 gms in an electronic balance in Chennai, it would read about 990 gms in Leh. It would read 167 gms in moon. While if measured with a pan balance it would read 1 kg whichever part of the universe you're in.


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## topgear (Feb 10, 2009)

Hey very good thread. Should be in Tutorial section 

Take a look at these :
*ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/gene_nygaard/weight.htm
*www.hitxp.com/phy/cph/020902.htm
*www.colorado.edu/physics/2000/periodic_table/mass.html


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