| The Breakroom > The Water Cooler |
| Baffled a bit |
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| raynerd:
If someone has a mass of (common language - weights) 98kg then their mass anywhere in the universe is 98kg On Earth due to gravity of 9.81 their weight would be 9.81x98 = 961.4N On the moon due to a gravity of 1.62N their weight would be 1.6x98 = 156.8N The issue comes in the common use of weight when we actually mean mass - mass being measured in kg and weight a force due to mass x gravity measured in newtons. |
| Bluechip:
Aaaaaaaargh ... I feel a saga coming on .... :bang: :bang: :bang: :bang: I think Mr. Jupp answered my question. If he's wrong, say why ... If he's right, it's good enough for my purpose. I have a spring, I know from the calibration data it should compress by 1mm with a force of 5N. I don't happen to have such a force about my person. I do have a 500g test weight. I am satisfied the spring does not qualify as a good spring. [ Not my poxy spring anyway ... :lol: ] We old codgers are usually terminally confused at the best of times. Do try not to make our plight worse ... :lol: :lol: :lol: Dave BC |
| DaveH:
--- Quote from: Bluechip on September 05, 2013, 07:36:22 AM --- The kitchen scale says 500g. Dave BC .... out of his depth.... I should KNOW this .... :loco: --- End quote --- I like your "talking scales" :D :beer: DaveH |
| PekkaNF:
I'm trying to follow your thinking, and I think I know where the confusion sets in. You want spring to generate certain force and you are measuring a distance of deflection with a known weight? Maybe the scale here is just here to verify the test is succesfull or something is not lost on friction, then photo of the contraption probably would have satisfy our curiosity. Anyway, the way I would think this experiment is that the said physical weight of 0,5 kg (500g) is used to generate certain force downwards. So this force is F = m * g. Think here "g" only as a fudge factor that will convert your known object "weight in Kg:s to Newtons". Soo simply put you could think the downward force (in Newtons) of this weight as an object (mass in Kg) is 0,50 kg * 9.81 N/kg = 4,90 N, when this experiment is performed right on this planet. Case closed. What I think generates this confusion is purely terminological. Confusion sets in when draw parallel lines with this object that is named "weight" as an shiny brass object and it's physical property "weight", which could mean mass or weight depending who you are talking and when. Simple way to put this together is to think that mass and energy generally does not dissappear (Conservation of mass). Your mass here is same than in the moon. Pekka |
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