物体对支持物的压力（或对悬挂物的拉力）小于物体所受重力的情况称为失重现象。

违反直觉的是，一个不变的引力场自身是不会产生压力或拉力的。一个在这样环境中的自由落体的物体所受的重力加速度为0，并且处于失重状态。这也可被称为受0个G。

当一个引力场是不断变化的时候，自由落体的物体就会受变化的力的作用，会感受到压力。当在黑洞附近的时候，这样的力的作用十分明显。但到了地球，这些力的作用就比较小了，特别是对人体、航天飞船这些相对尺寸较少的物体来说，完全失重的感觉是依然存在的。这种情况被叫做微重力，这在绕轨飞行的航天器上十分常见。

Weightlessness, or an absence of 'weight', is an absence of stress and strain resulting from externally applied mechanical contact-forces, typically normal forces from floors, seats, beds, scales, and the like. Counterintuitively, a uniform gravitational field does not by itself cause stress or strain, and a body in free fall in such an environment experiences no g-force acceleration and feels weightless. This is also termed "zero-g" where the term is more correctly understood as meaning "zero g-force."