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Plz explain in detail the difference between inertial mass and gravitational mass?

Plz explain in detail the difference between inertial mass and gravitational mass?

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1 Answers

urvashi seth
29 Points
12 years ago

gravitational mass is measured by comparing the  force of gravity of an unknown mass ot the focre of gravity of a known mass. this is the typically done with some sort of balance scale, the beauty of this method is that no matter where, or what planet, you are, the masses will always balance out because the gravitational acceletion on each object will be the same. this does break down near supermassive objects such as black holes and neutral stars due to the high gradient of gravitational field around such objects.

the inertial mass is found by applying a known force to an unknown mass, measuring the acceleration. and the applying newton's second law, m=Fa. this gives as accurate a value for mass as the accuracy of your measurements. when the astronauts need to be weighed in outer space, they actually find their intertial mass in a special chair.

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