Notes on Weight.

Progress, Volume VI, Issue 9, 1 July 1911, Page 722

Notes on Weight.

(By Peter .Ellis.)

We say . that .q body weighs .a ton, a hundredweight, or what not, according to

the nature and quantity , of its substance, unless, however, the body is free to move or-in the act of moving it has no real weight. This may seem a startling statement, but it is true, .as I will explain. Taking the earth and all belonging to it, including, its atmosphere, in the aggregate it is a ; mass everywhere attracted to its own centre ; that is to say, all the particles composing the Earth are drawn toward a common centre within it, and such par-

tieles have’weight when not balanced, i.e., when free to move toward that centre, but when such material rests on other material and cannot get nearer to the centre, its weight ceases. It may be" said to press on the material it rests upon, but only in the same sense as its own particles press on one another. The Earth, considered as a whole, can have no real weight except in the direction of its orbit, unless it is drawn by some influence outside or inside or above or below that orbit. l Weight being caused by the ability to move towards a certain spot ‘ without hindrance, ’; If for instance, the Earth could fall into the Sun it would have eight towards the Sun, or if it could fall towards any other spot it would have weight' towards that spot.