What is Mass?

Mass is defined as the measure of the amount of matter present in a body. The mass of the body remains the same everywhere, irrespective of location. Thus, mass refers to both, the property of a physical body and the measure of the resistance of the object to acceleration when we apply a net force.

The inertia of an object is measured by its mass i.e. the mass of an object is the measure of its inertia. When the mass of the body increases there will be an increment in the inertia also. The mass of the body does not change with the place. Whether an object is on the Earth, the Moon, or even in space, its mass remains constant. As a result, an object’s mass is constant and does not vary with its location. 

The formula to calculate the mass of an object when its density and volume is given, is:

Mass (m) = Volume (V) × Density (ρ)

It is a scalar quantity and its SI unit is kilogram (kg).

The mass of an object is measured by using an ordinary balance, beam balance, or digital balance. The general properties of mass can be summarised as,

• Mass of anybody can never be zero.
• Mass is a scaler quantity as it only has magnitude.
• Mass of an object does not change with the change in its location.
• Common Balance is used to measure the mass of a body.
• SI unit of mass is grams (g) and kilograms (kgs).

The common balance used to measure the mass is shown in the image below,

Mass and Weight are commonly used in the same manner by the general masses but there are differences between both Mass and Weight, where Mass is the measure of Inertia unlike Weight which is a measure of force acting on a body towards the heavy body. But yet still many people use these two terms interchangeably.

As we know that to change the speed or direction of an object, a force is required. If you drop anything from a great height, it will fall towards the earth’s surface. The planet revolves around the Sun and the moon revolves around the earth. There must be some force operating on objects, planets, and other celestial bodies. Isaac Newton noted that the same force is responsible for all these. This force is called gravitational force.