Mass
One common method of defining mass is to say that it is the quantity of matter an object possesses. For example, a small rock has a fixed, unchanging quantity of matter. If you were to take that rock to the Moon, to Mars, or to any other part of the universe, it would have the same quantity of matter—the same mass—as it has on Earth.
Mass is sometimes confused with weight. Weight is defined as the gravitational attraction on an object by some body, such as Earth or the Moon. The rock described above would have a greater weight on Earth than on the Moon because Earth exerts a greater gravitational attraction on bodies than does the Moon.
Mass and the second law
A more precise definition of mass can be obtained from Newton's second law of motion. According to that...
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