Handling: water and weight on suspension forks?

[JeffOYB]

I've always heard that for best suspension you want to make sure that the part that is suspended is kept light. But I'm no physics person.

If you put the water/weight on the person or the rest of the bike then it bounces up and down on the wheel. If you put it on the wheel, then it's a heavier wheel, in effect, that's bouncing around.

So what really happens?

Apparently sus-fork load-carriers work coz I see pics of them being used all the time. But what's the scoop on the handling and the physics?

[nick]

what you are talking about is called sprung and unsprung weight. In a nut shell you want the least amount of unsprung weight as possible (wheels) and sprung weight is the rest of the bike and rider. Google that term and you will get at least 1 million hits.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unsprung_mass
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sprung_mass