Weight
In science and engineering, the weight of an object is the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude (a scalar quantity), often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus: W = mg. When considered a vector, weight is often denoted by a bold letter W. The unit of measurement for weight is that of force, which in the International System of Units (SI) is the newton. For example, an object with a mass of one kilogram has a weight of about 9.8 newtons on the surface of the Earth, about one-sixth as much on the Moon, and zero when in deep space far away from all bodies imparting gravitational influence.
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Famous quotes containing the word weight:
“As deaths have accumulated I have begun to think of life and death as a set of balance scales. When one is young, the scale is heavily tipped toward the living. With the first death, the first consciousness of death, the counter scale begins to fall. Death by death, the scales shift weight until what was unthinkable becomes merely a matter of gravity and the fall into death becomes an easy step.”
—Alison Hawthorne Deming (b. 1946)
“You will trail across the rocks
and wash them with your salt,
you will curl between sand-hills
you will thunder along the cliff
break retreat get fresh strength
gather and pour weight upon the beach.”
—Hilda Doolittle (1886–1961)
“The hurt is not enough:
I long for weight and strength
To feel the earth as rough
To all my length.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)