A small reel of tape of mass 0.4 kg hangs from the spring shown in Fig. 1.1. The gravitational field strength at this place is 10 N/kg. Work out the weight ...
Question 1 Report
A small reel of tape of mass 0.4 kg hangs from the spring shown in Fig. 1.1. The gravitational field strength at this place is 10 N/kg. Work out the weight of the reel of tape, in newtons, from W = mg.
Answer Details
Weight is the gravitational force acting on an object and is calculated using the equation \( W = mg \), where \( m \) is mass and \( g \) is the gravitational field strength.
Substituting the values given:
\[ W = 0.4 \, \text{kg} \times 10 \, \text{N/kg} = 4 \, \text{N} \]
A common mistake is to confuse mass and weight or to misplace the decimal point. Multiplying 0.4 by 10 gives 4, not 40 or 0.04. Remember that weight is always larger in magnitude than mass (in standard units on Earth) because \( g \approx 10 \, \text{N/kg} \), so a 0.4 kg object weighs 4 N, not 0.4 N.
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