Loading questions on the Part 107 test split into two limits that pilots mash together. Weight is how much mass you are asking the rotors to lift. Center of gravity is where that mass sits. An aircraft can be under its maximum weight and still be unsafe because the balance point moved. The ACS treats them as separate checks against the manufacturer's data.
The balance point
The center of gravity is the point at which the aircraft would balance, the point where its weight is concentrated. It is not the middle of the propeller disc and it is not wherever the GPS puck is taped. On a multirotor, the flight controller assumes the CG is inside a range the manufacturer tested. Mount a cinema camera on the nose and the nose drops. The forward motors spend the flight catching up. Endurance falls, and a gust that the empty aircraft would have damped becomes a pitch excursion.
The course's practical fix is to move the battery or the payload until the balance point is back inside the published range before you fly. "It still hovers" is not the test. An off-limit CG most likely produces instability and poor control, not a cosmetic lean you can ignore.
Section 107.49(e) requires that any object attached or carried is secure and does not adversely affect the flight characteristics or controllability of the aircraft. A payload that shifts in flight is both a CG problem and a preflight failure. Hazardous material is a separate ban under §107.36. Securing a legal payload is not permission to carry hazmat.
Weight is the other column
Maximum takeoff weight for a given drone is set by the manufacturer. Part 107 adds its own definition: a small unmanned aircraft weighs less than 55 pounds on takeoff, including everything on board or attached. A manufacturer limit of 12 pounds is the one you plan to. The 55-pound line is the edge of Part 107 itself. Exceed either one and you are outside the approval you think you have.
Adding payload inside the maximum still costs performance. The aircraft must produce more lift, so endurance and climb margin drop. That is expected. It is not the same failure as an out-of-limits CG. The ACS item is explicit: moving a payload outside the approved CG range is still wrong when total mass is under the maximum. Do not pick "it is fine because we are light."
Use the manufacturer's table for the conditions you will actually fly. If the table's maximum mass is below your aircraft plus battery plus payload, reduce the load. Do not extrapolate a sea-level endurance number to a hot, high site. Density altitude is the reason that table changes with temperature and elevation. It is covered on the density altitude page.
How bank multiplies whatever you loaded
Load factor multiplies the weight the structure supports in a turn. A heavier, nose-heavy aircraft that you then bank hard is asking the frame for the CG problem and the G problem at once. Figure 2 and the definition of load factor are on the load factor page. Smooth inputs do not move the CG back into limits. They only avoid adding a second mistake.
A preflight you can actually do
Before launch, add the aircraft, the battery, the payload, and the accessories, and compare that total with the limit for the day's temperature and elevation. Then check the balance the manufacturer describes, which for many small multirotors is "payload on the designed mount, battery in the tray," not a manned-aircraft moment calculation. If the camera has to go on an arm the manual does not allow, the flight waits. The test is not looking for a formula. It is looking for the conclusion that weight and CG are both limits, and that instability is what a bad CG produces.