I'm having trouble reconciling some of the statements made by John D.
and John M. Whose opinions on the weighty matters I thought
corresponded;
I think John M.'s definition of "gravitational force" below and John D's
definition of weight are the same??
(Can you guys verify)
But I'm confused by what John M. is saying is frame dependent and what
isn't below.
In an earlier post John M. wrote:
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Yet
If I were king ...
"gravitational force" would be a frame-dependent vector quantity equal
to the mass of an object times the local gravitational field vector
(which is easily determined by measuring the local acceleration of a
freely falling object).
"weight" would be a frame-independent scalar quantity equal to the
magnitude of the gravitational force in the instantaneous rest frame of
the object.
Thus ...
the weight of a person on an accelerating elevator would be different
from the weight of the same person on the ground even though the
gravitational force on both would be the same in any given reference
frame.
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Doesn't the last paragraph say that weight is frame dependent. Because
it is different in the frame of the accelerating elevator than in the
earth frame?