Mass.....matter? What?

Question

So mass is the amount of matter in any object but then matter is objects that take up space and have mass. This is very confusing to me and doesn't make much sense.

Answer 1

Matter is made up of atoms. So mass of any matter is really the sum of the mass of the individual atoms in that matter.

I know its confusing so let me give you an example. Think of "matter" as a PERSON. A person has a weight, height, density, intelligence, skin color, name etc. etc. All of these are PROPERTIES of that person. But none of the properties themselves are people.

Similarly, MASS is a property of matter. Matter has other properties such as Reflectivity, Shininess, charge etc.

If this is still unclear, drop me a note and I'd be glad to help out. Good luck!

Answer 2

Strictly speaking mass is not the amount of matter.

Mass is a property of every atom, located in same point in space.

Mass is a property of 'concentrate energy' in a point in space. Energy could be distributed, without mass, as a field. Gravity Field, Electromagnetic Field, and so on.

It is important to have both concepts on mind, because are close related.

A mass could interact with another mass trough the space with another mass because shared Gravity Field. If one or both mass could move freely, they will move closer and closer until the are together because additive mass principle.

Charge is another property of matter, but, not all the matter has charge, and some objects could has 'positive' charge, and some others could has 'negative' charge.

The same mass rules apply to charge, but with electromagnetic field and with the difference that two positive charges will repeal each other, two negative charge will repeal each other, and one positive and one negative charge will attract each other.

You could have better matter understanding if you learn electricity, because with mechanic (mass), some principles look confuse, but when you understand from a different point they will be clarified

Answer 3

matter is just a term for the object. everything is matter (with the exception of photons). mass is just a property of matter.

Answer 4

mass encompasses matter.. mass in physics means "resistance to change".. a body moving at a certain speed and suddenly stopping that requires more energy to do so than another body, has more mass that that other body