The force due to Gravity is measured as: F=G(m1*m2/r^2)
where G is the gravitational force constant, m1 and m2 are the two masses and r^2 (r squared) is the distance between them.
Contrary to high school phsyics experiments, the object with less mass does fall to the earth more slowly. However, because the Earth is considerably more massive than the objects being dropped, and the seperation of the two objects is relatively short, the equation can be reduced to the much simpler:
F=mg
where the force due to gravity is equal to the mass of the object (m) times the simplified gravitational acceleration (g). This is often refered to as weight (w=mg). g is not constant around the earth but is close enough to be considered so for the calculations one might perform on earth.
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