In: Physics
what is mass?
ive done a course on nuclear physics i could tell you lots of things about quarks and draw feinman diagrams but i feel i should really have learned the answer to the question what is mass.
Mass is a measure of the amount of matter in an object. It is the quantity of matter in a body regardless of its volume or of any forces acting on it.
Mass is both a property of a physical body and a measure of its resistance to acceleration when a net force is applied. More precisely, it is a property of the body that determines the body's acceleration under the influence of a given force. The greater the mass of a body, the smaller the change produced by an applied force.
Mass can, therefore, be measured either by the amount of force necessary to impart to the body a given motion in a given time or by the acceleration produced by a given force.
The term "mass" should not be confused with weight, which is the measure of the force of gravity acting on a body.
An object's mass is constant in all circumstances. An object's mass on the earth and the moon are identical.
The absolute metric unit of mass is "gram". Other common units are kilogram (1000 grams) and pound (453.592 grams).