Nowadays, the mass as a property of an object and its weight, which depends on the gravity of the earth at its position are strictly distinguished. However historically, the kilopond was also called kilogram, and only later the kilogram-mass (today's kilogram) was separated from the kilogram-force (today's kilopond). A kilopond originally referred to the weight of a mass of one kilogram. Since the gravitational acceleration on the surface of the earth can differ, one gets different values for the unit kilopond and its derived units at different locations. To avoid this, the kilopond was first defined at sea level and a latitude of 45 degrees, since 1902 via the standard gravity of .