mass

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Science & Tech

mass

physics

Written and fact-checked by The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica

Last Updated: Apr 2, 2024 • Article History

weight and distance from Earth

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Category: Science & Tech

Key People:: Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar

Related Topics:: conservation of mass; density; Eddington mass limit; relativistic mass; reduced mass

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mass, in physics, quantitative measure of inertia, a fundamental property of all matter. It is, in effect, the resistance that a body of matter offers to a change in its speed or position upon the application of a force. The greater the mass of a body, the smaller the change produced by an applied force. The unit of mass in the International System of Units (SI) is the kilogram, which is defined in terms of Planck’s constant, which is defined as equal to 6.62607015 × 10⁻³⁴ joule second. One joule is equal to one kilogram times metre squared per second ...(100 of 552 words)

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