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Reference Terms
from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Mass

Mass is a property of a physical object that quantifies the amount of matter it contains. Unlike weight, the mass of something stays the same regardless of location. Mass is a central concept of classical mechanics and related subjects, and there are several forms of mass within the framework of relativistic kinematics. In the theory of relativity, the quantity invariant mass, which in concept is close to the classical idea of mass, does not vary between single observers in different reference frames. In classical mechanics, there are three types of mass or properties called mass: Inertial mass; passive gravitational mass; and active gravitational mass. Although inertial mass, passive gravitational mass and active gravitational mass are conceptually distinct, no experiment has ever unambiguously demonstrated any difference between them.

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Matter & Energy News

September 13, 2026

Scientists are combining an electron microscope with a quantum computer to squeeze far more information from each electron. The approach could reveal faint details with fewer electrons, helping protect fragile samples that conventional microscopy ...
Researchers have experimentally demonstrated the optical Magnus effect for the first time, revealing that a tightly focused laser interacts most strongly with an atom slightly away from the beam’s center. The unexpected shift is similar to the ...
Researchers at Harvard have demonstrated a way to protect quantum information using microscopic sound waves. By continuously surrounding a diamond-based qubit with mechanical vibrations, they extended its coherence time by roughly threefold. The ...
Scientists have created an ultra-small nanolaser that could eventually allow microchips to transmit information with light instead of electricity, potentially making computers faster while cutting energy use roughly in half. Thousands of the lasers ...
A more realistic quantum model has revealed evidence that strange, nearly immobile quasiparticles called fractons could exist in solid materials. Their inability to move freely could make them promising building blocks for unusually robust quantum ...
Scientists have devised a new way to switch magnetic computer memory while using far less energy than today's leading technologies. By mathematically optimizing the pulses used to flip digital bits, ...
Princeton researchers have tested an AI system that can monitor and control fusion plasma in milliseconds, reacting far faster than a human operator. In one experiment, it predicted a damaging instability about 200 milliseconds before it appeared ...
Scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have discovered an unexpected form of the Hall effect, overturning the long-held assumption that this electrical response only appears when a magnetic field points perpendicular to a material. Beyond ...
Solar sails pushed by powerful lasers could reach incredible speeds, but relativity may eventually make the light itself work against them. At around 75% of the speed of light, scattered photons can begin creating drag, adding a surprising obstacle ...
Scientists have uncovered hidden complexity inside two ultrathin superconductors that seemed much simpler than they really are. Niobium diselenide and tantalum disulfide appeared to have a single superconducting state, but highly sensitive ...
Diamond was thought to be incapable of producing electricity through mechanical deformation, but ultrathin flexible diamond membranes have now shown a strong and repeatable piezoelectric effect. The unexpected discovery could open the door to ...
Scientists have cracked a long-standing chemistry problem, creating nanocrystals from tough metal nitrides that were previously extremely difficult to produce at this scale. The breakthrough could ...

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