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When I introduce this topic I suppress
mention of the centrifugal force when I introduce weight, defining it simply
as the reading on a scale (or spring balance). I then tell them weight is
the product of an object's mass and the gravitational field at the weight's
position, the latter being g in the laboratory on Earth's surface. In the
orbiting Space Shuttle the gravitational field is nearly zero, so we say the
astronauts inside are weightless, or very nearly so. All of these statements
conform to both scientific and common cultural understanding.