What is mass?

What is mass?

Pasta it is a physical property of bodies and particles, so its concept is subject to how it is measured. One of its definitions is inertia, which measures your resistance to acceleration, which arises from the application of a strength. The bodies' mass also determines how intense the gravitational pull between them is.

We can also understand the mass of a body as an expression of the amount of matter contained in it: protons, neutrons, electrons and other smaller particles. Although there are still other different interpretations for this physical magnitude, all of them have been shown to be equivalent, even in the most accurate measurements carried out in the laboratory.

Check out some phenomenological interpretations of pasta below:

  • Pastainertial: The inertial mass is defined by the Newton's first law. The greater the inertial mass of a body, the less acceleration it acquires when it is under the action of a force. In other words, the inertial mass measures the resistance that a body presents when undergoing the application of a force

  • Pastagravitational: According to the law of universal gravitation, all bodies that have mass attract each other thanks to the gravitational force. If a body or a particle has no mass, it will not be attracted towards a gravitational field. The larger the interacting masses, the greater the force of attraction between them.

  • Energyinrest: According to the theory of spatial relativity, in Albert Einstein, the relationship between mass and energy is given by the expression E = mc² (c = 3.0.108 m/s). This energy, called resting energy (AND), measures the energy equivalence of a portion of mass m.

  • LengthinwaveCompton: It is a quantum property used to determine the wavelength of particles such as electrons, protons and neutrons. According to the duality of matter, which sometimes can present itself as a particle, sometimes as a wave, each particle has a wavelength, which can be calculated by the expression: λ = h/mc, being H The Planck's constant (6,62607004 × 10-34 m² kg/s) and m the mass of the particle.

mass measurements

Mass is one of the fundamental quantities of physics, as well as the time and the distance. The official measure of mass, according to the International System of Units, is the kilogram, whose symbol is kg.

Lookalso:What are physical quantities?

Previously, the kilogram was defined from aliter of pure water. However, the inaccuracy in water volume measurements, the presence of impurities and the high volatility of this substance forced the scientific community to use a more stable alternative to the kilogram.

The reference currently used for the definition of a kilogram is a small cylinder made of an alloy of platinum and iridium, called IPK (International Prototype Kilogram). This object was forged in 1889 and has been carefully stored since then in the city of Paris, France.

IPK
The international standard for the kilogram is stored in a vacuum hood.

As well as the original, there are several other IPK replicas distributed around the world in order to establish a standard for mass measurements. However, in recent years, recent measurements of the mass of these objects have shown worrying fluctuations. As a result, the kilogram will soon no longer be based on an object, and will be measured in terms of a fundamental constant of physics: a constantinPlanck.

mass and weight

Mass and weight are different quantities: while mass is a scalar quantity, weight is the strengthinattraction that the Earth exerts on bodies above its surface.

It is common to have conceptual confusion between these terms, since, to measure the mass of bodies on Earth, we use scales. These instruments measure the weight, that is, the force with which the Earth attracts objects (some scales measure the normal force exerted by the body). It is from this measurement that we can infer the bodies' masses.

Lookalso: Learn about the difference between mass and weight.

Furthermore, after the development of the theory of general relativity, we know that large masses, such as those of the planets and the Sun, are capable of deforming the relief of space-time, causing gravitational phenomena to appear.

gravity and space-time
Bodies with very large masses can cause deformations in spacetime, like black holes.

mass and volume

Pasta and volume are distinct quantities that are related by the density of the bodies. The volume of a body is the space it occupies. In this space, there can be more or less mass, according to its density. For example, ice has a density of 0.917 grams per centimeter (g/cm³), meaning an ice cube one centimeter in height, width and depth has a mass of 0.917 grams.

The volume of a body, in turn, depends on its thermal agitation, which determines the average distances between its molecules. These distances can also vary according to the pressure exerted on the body.

relativistic mass

Pastarelativistic it's a concept erroneous, generally attributed to a misinterpretation of the special relativity equations developed by Albert Einstein. According to this interpretation, the mass of a body would increase as its velocity approached the speed of light. However, it is known that, in fact, who suffers such an increase is the linear moment of the body, that is, its amount of movement. Therefore, regardless of whether a body is at rest or at a speed close to the speed of light, its mass will remain the same.

mass and energy

After Einstein's contributions, the concept of mass gained new interpretations. Today, we know that every mass carries an enormous amount of energy, called energyinrest. This energy is expressed in matter through the bonds between the particles that make up subatomic particles, such as protons and neutrons. The latter, for example, are formed by trios of quarks, fundamental high-energy particles.

Lookalso:Discover the 17 particles that make up the Universe.

Origin of dough

Around 1950, Higgs suggested that a particle's mass was assigned by the boson (massless particle) attached to it. This theory was proven in 2013 through the creation of LHC (Large Hadron Collider), the largest particle accelerator in the world.

Lookalso:Get to know string theory.

After the contributions of Particle Physics, today we know that there are two classes of particles: the bosons and the fermions. You bosons, like the photons and gluons, are particles responsible for the interaction between particles. They are also known as particlesvirtual, given that nohavepasta and therefore they are constantly moving at the speed of light. You fermions, in turn, are particles that have mass and, therefore, would never be able to reach such speed, as they have inertia.


By Me. Rafael Helebrock

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/o-que-e/fisica/o-que-e-massa.htm

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