"Your body has mass since it's made up of matter. You can measure your mass by weighing yourself. But what would happen if you went to the moon? Would you weigh the same?"
No.
"Does that mean you suddenly lost weight?"
Of course not.
"Your mass would stay the same, but your weight would be different."
Now that we had that straight, it was important for us to know how scientists measure mass. Here in the United States of America, we often measure mass in our customary units, like ounces and pounds, but in pretty much all the rest of the world they use the metric system for measurement. Since scientists often work together, they need to all use the same units of measurement, which is the metric system.
In the photographs below, we are measuring everyday items in the metric units of grams using a pan balance.
To learn more, check out the physical science links in the Students section on our website. Happy learning!