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Article: Q: do balances and scales determine an object's mass or its weight?(Science 101: Background boosters for elementary teachers)
- Article from:
- Science and Children
- Article date:
- March 1, 2008
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2008 National Science Teachers Association. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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A: A number of years ago, I began to notice in science activities and lesson plans that people referred to the process of "massing" objects instead of "weighing" them. That trend continues today, so maybe we better get it straight. Do you mass objects, weigh objects, or do something else to them when you're using a balance or a scale? To answer that, I'm first going to have to explain the difference between mass and weight.
Mass Versus Weight
The typical elementary-school explanation of the difference between mass and weight goes something like the following: Mass is the amount of matter contained in an object. If you travel to the Moon, another planet, ...