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A comment on Why the Z boson had a different mass at different times of day.. Parent comment

Re:Why the Z boson had a different mass at different times o... by swolchok on Saturday August 08, 2009 @12:01AM (#748957)
At least in my last physics class, weight was defined to be the gravitational force of the earth acting on an object. Perhaps you're blown away because you're equating weight and mass?
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Re:Why the Z boson had a different mass at different times o... by Oompa on Saturday August 08, 2009 @10:48AM (#749352)
No, but because of how precise the experiment was. At first I didn't quite understand it, and now the full force of the article has hit me.
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Re:Why the Z boson had a different mass at different times o... by TriinT on Saturday August 08, 2009 @01:53AM (#749024)
To be precise, weight is defined as the magnitude of the force one must apply to an object in a gravitational field in order to hold it at rest.

If you're on the moon, the gravitational force of the earth acting on an object is not what matters. It's the gravitational force of the moon that matters.

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Re:Why the Z boson had a different mass at different times o... by Locke1689 on Saturday August 08, 2009 @01:23PM (#749537)
They're not measuring weight anyway -- they are measuring mass. Maybe I'll write up a blog post with a picture of how mass spectrometry works. It's a fairly common homework problem in intro EM courses anyway.
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