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Weight and mass are often used to mean the same thing. But they are different.
The mass of an object is a measure of the amount of matter it contains.
The weight of an object is a measure of the force exerted by gravity on the object. The weight of the object will vary according to its distance from the centre of the earth.
The basic unit for mass in the metric system of measurement is the kilogram (kg).
The commonly used units are milligrams, grams, kilograms and tonnes.
| Unit |
Symbol
|
Examples |
| milligrams |
mg
|
A small feather weighs 25 mg. |
 |
| grams |
g
|
An AA battery has a weight of 60 g. |
| kilograms |
kg
|
My weight is 90 kg. ---------> |
| tonnes |
t
|
A big car weighs 1.1 tonnes. |
Converting between Units
To convert between the units shown in bold in the first column and the units in the second column, multiply or divide by the factors indicated in the third column.
|
Unit
|
Convert to
|
Action |
| milligrams (mg) |
g
|
÷ 1000 |
|
kg
|
÷ 1000 000 |
|
t
|
÷ 1 000 000 000 |
| grams (g) |
mg
|
× 1000 |
|
kg
|
÷ 1000 |
|
t
|
÷ 1 000 000 |
| kilograms (kg) |
mg
|
× 1 000 000 |
|
g
|
× 1000 |
|
t
|
÷ 1000 |
| tonnes (t) |
mg
|
× 1 000 000 000 |
|
g
|
× 1 000 000 |
|
kg
|
× 1000 |
Examples
1. To change 5 kilograms into grams − multiply by 1000.
5 kg = 5 × 1000 grams = 5000 g
2. To change 150 milligrams into grams − divide by 1000
150 mg = 150 ÷ 1 000 grams = 0.15 g
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