Question

Is weight a force?

Answer 1

Hint: To answer this question Newton’ssecond law of motion has to be known. From this law, the formula of the force is found. The weight is determined by the product of the mass of an object and its acceleration due to gravity. If the weight satisfies the definition of the force described in the 2^nd law of motion, it should be a force.

Complete step by step answer:
From the second law of motion, the mathematical formulation of the applied force on an object can be determined. From this law, force is defined by the product of the mass and acceleration due to the force of the object.
The weight of a body is described as a force on the mass of an object. On the expression of weight, it is noticed that it depends on the mass and the acceleration due to gravity, the mass may not be changed but the acceleration due to gravity can change from position to position.
Weight is a vector quantity and hence, it has magnitude and direction toward the center of the Earth or other gravity. Its unit is Newton which is the unit of force.
Therefore, the weight has all the properties similar to a force. So, we can say the weight is a force that acts on a mass due to the gravitational acceleration.

Note:
We generally feel our weight has decreased while we are in a lift that goes down. This is because the weight we feel is the “effective weight”, This is the same and opposite force the floor exerts on us due to our weight. When the elevator is going down it is moving in the direction along with the gravity, hence it reduces the net gravitational acceleration, and hence decreases our weight.
Now when we fall freely there is nothing to exert a force on us and therefore we will feel weightless even the existence of acceleration due to gravity and mass. This is because the effective weight becomes zero.