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At least in my last physics class, weight was defined to be the gravitational force of the earth acting on an object. Perhaps you're blown away because you're e
by swolchok 17y ago
At least in my last physics class, weight was defined to be the gravitational force of the earth acting on an object. Perhaps you're blown away because you're equating weight and mass?
- TriinT 17y agoTo be precise, weight is defined as the magnitude of the force one must apply to an object in a gravitational field in order to hold it at rest. If you're on the moon, the gravitational force of the earth acting on an object is not what matters. It's the gravitational force of the moon that matters.
- Locke1689 17y agoThey're not measuring weight anyway -- they are measuring mass. Maybe I'll write up a blog post with a picture of how mass spectrometry works. It's a fairly common homework problem in intro EM courses anyway.
- Oompa 17y agoNo, but because of how precise the experiment was. At first I didn't quite understand it, and now the full force of the article has hit me.