What is mass?
Mass is a scientific measure of the amount of matter an object is made up of. No matter where you are at given moment in time, mass is constant. So, whether you're walking to the shop to stock up on groceries or bouncing around on the moon, your mass is the same. Obviously, if you're on a diet that's not the answer you want to hear but don't panic - we'll get to the all-important definition of weight shortly.
Some other key points about mass
- Mass is indestructible. As you've seen above, no matter where you are in the universe your mass will never change
- Mass can never be zero. What we mean by this is that everything in the universe has mass. If it didn't it simply wouldn't exist
- Mass is not related to gravity, centrifugal force, etc and these forces have no effect whatsoever on your mass
- Mass is commonly measured in kilograms and grams.
Hopefully, the descriptions above have given you a good idea of what mass really is. Don't fall into the trap of thinking that this unit of measure is not important - it is. After all, without the huge mass that makes up planet Earth we'd have no gravity - a great way to save money on fuel as you can simply float to work, but not so great when you're trying to drink your morning espresso on your way to the office.