What is the difference between mass and weight?

Mass is the amount of matter in something and it never changes — the same person is made of the same atoms on Earth, on Mars or in deep space. Weight is the force that gravity exerts on that mass, so it changes with wherever you happen to be. Mass is measured in kilograms, weight properly in newtons. The confusion arises because bathroom scales are marked in kilograms while actually measuring force, having been calibrated for Earth's gravity.

How do you calculate weight on another planet?

Multiply your mass by that planet's surface gravity: W = m × g. More usefully, multiply your Earth weight by the ratio of the two gravities. Mars has a surface gravity of 3.73 m/s² against Earth's 9.80, a ratio of 0.38, so a 70 kg person would register about 26.6 kg there. The ratio approach avoids converting to newtons and back.

Where does surface gravity come from?

From Newton's law of gravitation: g = GM/r², where G is the gravitational constant, M the body's mass and r its radius. It follows that gravity depends on both how massive a world is and how tightly that mass is packed. Uranus is over fourteen times Earth's mass but has almost identical surface gravity, because it is also four times wider — the extra mass is spread so far from the centre that it barely helps.

Why is the Moon's gravity one sixth of Earth's?

Because it is both much less massive and much smaller, and the two effects partly cancel. The Moon has about 1.2 percent of Earth's mass, which alone would make its gravity 1.2 percent of ours. But it is also only 27 percent of Earth's radius, and gravity goes as one over radius squared, so being small multiplies the result by about 13.6. Combining the two gives roughly one sixth — 0.166 to be exact.

How high could I jump on the Moon?

Around six times as high as on Earth. A jump reaches a height of v² ÷ 2g, and your legs deliver the same push-off speed regardless of where you are, so the height is inversely proportional to gravity. A half-metre standing jump here becomes just over three metres on the Moon and nearly eight on Pluto. In practice the Apollo astronauts managed far less, because a pressurised suit and a stiff backpack make jumping awkward.

What does surface gravity mean for a gas giant?

There is no surface to stand on, so the figure is quoted at the depth where atmospheric pressure equals one Earth atmosphere. That is the convention for Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune. Go deeper and gravity would change, and you would be crushed and cooked long before reaching anything solid. Jupiter's 24.8 m/s² is therefore a real number about a real place, but not one you could ever stand on.

Why is Jupiter's gravity only two and a half times Earth's?

Because although Jupiter has 318 times Earth's mass, it is also over eleven times wider. Gravity falls with the square of the radius, so being eleven times wider divides the effect by about 125. Dividing 318 by 125 leaves roughly 2.5. It is a good illustration that surface gravity is not really about how big something is — it is about how close you can get to the centre of its mass.

Would I really weigh that much on the Sun?

The arithmetic is sound — the Sun's surface gravity is about 28 times Earth's, so a 70 kg person would register close to two tonnes. Whether it means anything is another matter. The Sun has no solid surface, and the photosphere sits at around 5,500 °C, so the calculation describes a force that would apply to something which cannot exist there. It is included because it is a question people ask, and the number is genuinely interesting.

Does my weight change anywhere on Earth?

Slightly, yes. Earth is not a perfect sphere and it rotates, so gravity is about 0.5 percent stronger at the poles than at the equator — you are nearer the centre there, and the centrifugal effect of rotation is weaker. Altitude matters too: gravity falls by roughly 0.003 percent for every hundred metres you climb. A 70 kg person is around 350 grams lighter at the equator than at the pole, which is small but genuinely measurable.

Weight on Other Planets Calculator

Enter your weight and see what a bathroom scale would read on every planet in the solar system, plus the Moon, Pluto, the Sun and a handful of the larger moons. The answer changes enormously — the same person reads about eleven kilograms on the Moon and a hundred and seventy-seven on Jupiter — and y...

W = m × g

YOUR WEIGHT ON EARTH

QUICK PICKS

YOUR MASS — THE SAME EVERYWHERE

70.00 kg

WEIGHT ON EARTH

685.9 N

ON THE MOON

11.60 kg

ON MARS

26.63 kg

Mass is how much of you there is; weight is the force gravity pulls you down with. Only the second one travels.

EVERY BODY, IN FULL

WORLD

GRAVITY

YOU WOULD WEIGH

VS EARTH

Ceres

0.27 m/s²

1.93 kg

0.028×

Pluto

0.62 m/s²

4.40 kg

0.063×

Europa

1.32 m/s²

9.39 kg

0.134×

Titan

1.35 m/s²

9.68 kg

0.138×

Moon

1.62 m/s²

11.60 kg

0.166×

1.80 m/s²

12.83 kg

0.183×

Mercury

3.70 m/s²

26.44 kg

0.378×

Mars

3.73 m/s²

26.63 kg

0.380×

Uranus

8.87 m/s²

63.36 kg

0.905×

Venus

8.87 m/s²

63.37 kg

0.905×

Earth

9.80 m/s²

70.00 kg

1.000×

Saturn

10.44 m/s²

74.61 kg

1.066×

Neptune

11.15 m/s²

79.62 kg

1.137×

Jupiter

24.79 m/s²

177.08 kg

2.530×

The Sun

274.27 m/s²

1,959.33 kg

28.0×

Surface gravity is worked out from each body's mass and equatorial radius using g = GM/r², not looked up.

THE SAME BODY, TEN DIFFERENT READINGS

Nothing about you changes. The same 70.0 kg of atoms is standing on every one of those worlds. What changes is how hard each one pulls, and a bathroom scale measures the pull rather than the atoms — which is why it would give ten different answers for the same person.

FURTHER AFIELD

Cereslargest asteroid1.93 kg

Europamoon of Jupiter9.39 kg

Titanmoon of Saturn9.68 kg

Iomoon of Jupiter12.83 kg

The Suna surface only in the loosest sense1,959.33 kg

The Sun is kept out of the chart above because at 28.0× Earth's gravity it would flatten every other bar into a sliver.

HOW HIGH YOU COULD JUMP

metres, here on Earth

On Moon

3.02 m · 3.86 s up

On Mars

1.31 m · 1.68 s up

On Pluto

7.96 m · 10.17 s up

On Jupiter

0.20 m · 0.25 s up

Height and hang time scale by the same factor, because a jump reaches v² ÷ 2g and lasts 2v ÷ g — both inversely proportional to gravity. On the Moon you do not just rise six times higher, you stay up six times longer, which is why the Apollo footage looks the way it does. Spacesuits spoil it in practice.

Created with❤️byeaglecalculator.com

HOW TO USE

1
Enter your weight in kilograms, pounds or stone. The calculator treats this as your mass, which is the quantity that stays the same everywhere, and works out the force of gravity on it from there.
2
Read the chart on the right. Each bar is a world, its length is that world's surface gravity, and the figure beside it is what a bathroom scale would show if you stood on it. Earth is marked in black for comparison.
3
Scroll the full table for every body including the Sun, Io, Titan, Europa and Ceres, with each one's surface gravity in m/s² and its ratio to Earth's.
4
Try the jump box. Enter how high you can jump here — half a metre is typical for a standing jump — and see what that becomes elsewhere. The height scales inversely with gravity.

THE FORMULAS

WeightW = m × g

Surface gravityg = G M / r²

Weight elsewhereW₂ = W₁ × (g₂ / g₁)

Scale readingmass × (g / g_Earth)

Jump heighth = v² / 2g, so h ∝ 1/g

Time airborneT = 2v / g, the same 1/g

Gravitational constantG = 6.6743 × 10⁻¹¹

Standard gravityg₀ = 9.80665 m/s² exactly

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Last updated: July 29, 2026 · Gravity derived from mass and radius · Eagle-eyed accuracy for every calculation.