Background: Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in a substance or an object. The basic SI unit for mass is the kilogram (kg), but smaller masses may be measured in grams (g). To measure mass, you would use a balance. In the lab, mass may be measured with a triple beam balance or an electronic balance, but the old-fashioned balance pictured below may give you a better idea of what mass is. If both sides of this balance were at the same level, it would mean that the fruit in the left pan has the same mass as the iron object in the right pan. In that case, the fruit would have a mass of 1 kg, the same as the iron. As you can see, however, the fruit is at a higher level than the iron. This means that the fruit has less mass than the iron, that is, the fruit's mass is less than 1 kg.

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: Does the block of wood on the right side have more or less mass than the block of wood on the left side?
Answer: less

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: Does the block of wood on the left side have more or less mass than the block of wood on the right side?
Answer: more

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: If Johnathan replaced the block of wood on the right side with a block with more mass would that side of the balance go up or down?
Answer: down

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: If Johnathan replaced the block of wood on the left side with a block with less mass would that side of the balance go up or down?
Answer: up

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: If Johnathan put two new blocks of wood on the balance and their levels are equal is their mass uneven or the same?
Answer: the same

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: If Johnathan wanted to both sides to be at an equal level would he need more or less mass on the left side?
Answer: less

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.

Question: If Johnathan wanted to both sides to be at an equal level would he need more or less mass on the right side?
Answer: more

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.                   
                                                  
Sarah is using a traditional balance to estimate the mass of her peppers. She wants to make 1 kg bushels to sell at the farmers market so she puts a 1 kg weight on the right side and the peppers on the left side.

Question: If the 1 kg weight is higher than the peppers does Sarah need to add more peppers or remove peppers?
Answer: remove peppers

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.                   
                                                  
Sarah is using a traditional balance to estimate the mass of her peppers. She wants to make 1 kg bushels to sell at the farmers market so she puts a 1 kg weight on the right side and the peppers on the left side.

Question: If the 1 kg weight is lower than the peppers does Sarah need to add peppers or remove peppers?
Answer: add peppers

Situation: Johnathan is trying to find two blocks of wood with the same mass for a project he is working on. He doesn't have a balance, so he makes a crude one out of materials he has on hand. He put a block of wood on either side and the block on the left side was at a lower level than the block on the right.                   
                                                  
Sarah is using a traditional balance to estimate the mass of her peppers. She wants to make 1 kg bushels to sell at the farmers market so she puts a 1 kg weight on the right side and the peppers on the left side.

Question: If the peppers are higher than the 1 kg weight do they have more mass or less mass than the weight?
Answer: less mass