Question

The weight of a body –
A) Is constant
B) Is not constant
C) Does not change from place to place.
D) Both A and C

Answer 1

Hint: We need to understand the difference in the terminology of weight of a body and the mass of a body to solve this problem. The understanding of forces acting on a body is required to grasp this concept and avoid confusion between them.

Complete answer:
The weight of a body and the mass of the body are two properties of the body. We often misunderstand the two quantities to be the same or the equal. As a physicist, we should be very careful in handling the two physical quantities which possess extremely different meanings.
                                     

The weight of the body is a force acting on a body by the virtue of the gravitational force acting on it. We know from Newton's law of motion that a force of a body of mass ‘m’ can produce an acceleration for the body. Similarly, when we consider the gravitational force as the vertical force acting on a body of mass ‘m’ the acceleration due to gravity comes into play. This force of gravity acting on each body which is directly proportional to the mass of the body is called the Weight of the body.
\[{{F}_{g}}=mg\]
From this we understand that the weight of a body is dependent on the gravitational force at a place. So, it changes from place to place, from planet to planet and will not be constant.

The correct answer is option B.

Note:
The mass of a body is the physical quantity that is measured in units of grams, which denotes the quantity of the substance that makes up the body. It plays an important role in determining the weight of the body, but is never equal to one another.