WEIGHT

                                    In science and engineering, the weight of an object is usually taken to be the force on the object due to gravity. Its magnitude (a scalar quantity), often denoted by an italic letter W, is the product of the mass m of the object and the magnitude of the local gravitational acceleration g; thus: W = mg. The term weight and mass are often confused with each other in everyday discourse but they are distinct quantities. The unit of measurement for weight is that of force, which in the International System of Units (SI) is the newton.