Question

If you carry out an experiment measuring the weight and mass of objects in one particular location on the earth, what relation will you find between weight and mass in your measurements?
A. They are equal.
B. Weight is directly proportional to mass.
C.Weight is inversely proportional to mass.
D. Mass equals weight times acceleration due to gravity.

Answer 1

Weight is directly proportional to mass.

Answer 2

Hey there! Hello!

So, for this problem, we need to keep in mind what the formula for calculating mass is in the case of given acceleration and weight.

W=Weight
a=acceleration (gravitational pull)
m=mass

W=am, so
m=W/a.

Lets go through the answers:

A is incorrect right off the bat, since it's impossible for there to be circumstances that allow for both weight and mass to be equal.

B sounds like the right one to me, as the weight will affect the mass directly if the acceleration doesn't change (which is why they made it known that this was from one location), and vice versa.

C isn't correct, since it's basically saying the opposite of what actually happens occurs (weight goes up, mass goes down, and vice versa).

D has also been disproven based on our formula above. Weight is the one that equals mass times acceleration, not the other way around.

I hope this helps you out! Feel free to ask me any additional questions if you have any. :-)