Mass and Weight

The mass of body is defined as the quantity of matter contained n it and is, therefore, constant every where. As already said, the unit of amass in E.P.S, English, C.G.S. and M.K.S. or S I systems are pound (Ib), slug, gram (gm) and kilogram (kg) respectively.

1 Ib = 453.6 gms = 0.4536 kg
1 kg = 1,000 gms = 2.204 Ibs

The weight of a body is defined as the gravitational force exerted by the earth on that body. Owing to the variations in the radius of the earth, the gravitational force on a given mass, at sea level, is different at different latitudes.
It will be seen that the weight of a 1-kg mass at sea level is practically 9.81 N.
For most purposes we can assume:
The weight of a body 9.81 m newtons where m is the mass of the body kg.
Similarly in other systems of units
One gm-wt = force of 981 dynes
One Ib-wt = force of 32.2 poundals

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