Difference between density and mass

Answer 1

Mass is a scalar quantity. Weight is a vector quantity.

Mass is defined as amount of substance inside an object. Weight is defined as the force acting by the mass of the body.

Mass cannot be zero, weight can (in areas of zero gravity)

Answer 2

Mass is mass and weight is mass in a gravimetric field.

Picture two identical Bowling balls. They're way, way, way out in space. Light years from anything. Deep space. They both have mass, both have equal mass, in fact. But they are weightless. (Our two bowling balls are way out there and a few light years apart so there is no appreciable attraction between them.)

Now take one and put it in a bowling bag in someone's closet. Leave the other one out there in deep space. Both bowling balls still have mass, and their mass is still equal. The one on earth, however, now has weight. It's mass is being pulled on by the gravimetric field of the earth.

This still doesn't answer the question. It just says what they are. This question is asking for similarities.

Answer 3

In science, there is a very fundamental difference between mass and weight:
Mass is essentially a measurement of the number of protons, neutrons and electrons contained within a given object; or to put it another way, the amount of matter an object contains. Weight is the force on an object due to gravitational acceleration.

Therefore an object when moved from the Earth's surface to somewhere a very large distance from any other object will maintain a constant mass, but will be experiencing no gravitational acceleration and therefore will have no weight.

However in common language usage:
There is often no difference as it is common for people to use "weight" and "mass" interchangeably. This is because all objects have massA and all people live on earth (and so are used to objects having weight due to gravitational acceleration) and as such mass directly corresponds to peoples perception of how heavy an object is. Please see the related link for further information.

A This is newtonian mechanics, so we are assuming the existence of massless elementary particles is irrelevant.


Previous Answer:
The original meaning of "weight," still in general use today, is equivalent to mass. But a definition common in physics uses "weight" for a particular kind of force, and there are other definitions as well (when archers talk of the "weight" of their bows, they're talking about a force that results not from gravity, but from muscle power). Accepting the fact that "weigh" and "weight" are ambiguous makes these concepts easier to understand.

Even when weight is limited to its definition as a force, it is normally limited to a particular kind of force due to the attraction of gravity. Thus, depending on the definition used, weight is a concept either too broad or too narrow to be contraposed with mass in this way. Call the other quantity force; it works much better that way.
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Answer 4

On earth the measured mass of an object is equal to its weight. However in different gravitational field strengths this is not true. If you were on the moon, your weight would be much less than your measured mass. So, the similarity in that case is only a ratio, and not equal to 1:1.

Answer 5

density is the thickness of the object whereas mass is the amount of matter it contains.

Answer 6

The word matter means a substance of some sort. The word mass means the amount of space a substance takes up.

Answer 7

weight is the effect of gravity on an object, mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object

Answer 8

All things are made up of matter.

Mass is the amount of inertia an object has.