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We can start with the assumption that you are asking why mass doesn't change relative to the presence of a gravitational field, while weight does change. Mass is a measure of the actual amount of physical material present in an object. Identical objects could be placed on the surface of the earth, in orbit around the earth, on Pluto, or in interstellar space. In each case, the amount of physical material is the same. However, the objects will not all weigh the same.

You can imagine floating free in space, and you are right in between two cubes of steel, each weighing 5 tons on earth. Of course, they weigh nothing in space. The cubes are for all practical purposes stationary and you are not being crushed. You could reach out and push against the cubes. While it might take a little effort, you would be able to get the cubes moving away from one another. The effort you have to put into getting the cubes to move is directly related to the amount of material in the cubes.

Now imagine yourself laying down in a parking lot, and one of the 5 ton cubes is being lowered onto you. Do you think you will be able to push the cube away as you did in space? In the parking lot, you would experience the weight of the cube on earth.

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17y ago

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