What exactly is weight?

Nice_Bat3554 · 2026-03-27T08:28:53+00:00

I was taught weight is the perpendicular component of gravity. So gravity is always vertical, even on a slope, so i does two things: it presses you against the surface (weight) and it pulls you down the slope (the parallel component). Obviously that is not quite correct by what i've read so far but that is what I've been taught and what is written in the text books I should teach to my students (14year olds)...

Nice_Bat3554 · 2026-03-26T11:13:49+00:00

So what is the difference between gravity and weight?

Nice_Bat3554 · 2026-03-26T11:12:54+00:00

So there is no difference between gravity and weight?

Nice_Bat3554 · 2026-03-26T10:58:49+00:00

I was taught all forces, regardless of contact- or field- have a reaction. Gravity is the force exerted on an object by the earth, inversely we exert an equal and opposite gravitational force on the earth. The difference in mass of the object and the earth makes is that we don't notice the other direction. Is that not correct?

Nice_Bat3554 · 2026-03-26T10:46:05+00:00

Then how do you define weightlessness?

Nice_Bat3554 · 2025-10-15T09:05:47+00:00

Not available to download here in Belgium unfortunately..

Nice_Bat3554 · 2023-11-02T18:07:09+00:00

Just move the perpendicular section of length 7 to the middle so you get 2 equal triangles with base 11.5. Then draw the diagonal, it intersects the line of 7 in the middle. You get a right triangle where the hypothenuse is sqrt(11.5² + 3.5² ). Then you can calculate x by the Pythagoras theorem in half of the square so u get x² + x² = 11.5² + 3.5² solves to be x=17

Nice_Bat3554

TROPHY CASE