inertial mass

American  

noun

Physics.

1. the mass of a body as determined by the second law of motion from the acceleration of the body when it is subjected to a force that is not due to gravity.

2. the measure of the property of inertia.

---

inertial mass British  

noun

1. the mass of a body as determined by its momentum, as opposed to gravitational mass. The acceleration of a falling body is inversely proportional to its inertial mass but directly proportional to its gravitational mass: as all falling bodies have the same constant acceleration the two types of mass must be equal

---

Compare meaning

How does inertial-mass compare to similar and commonly confused words? Explore the most common comparisons:

• inertial mass vs. gravitational mass

Example Sentences

Objects and systems have properties of inertial mass and gravitational mass that are experimentally verified to be the same and that satisfy conservation principles.

From Textbooks • Aug. 12, 2015

The strong equivalence principle states that gravitational and inertial mass remain equal even when such self-gravitation is included.

From Science Magazine • Mar. 5, 2015

I just want to get the script and say, 'Here's what I said about gravitational mass and inertial mass, or about Einstein's general theory of relativity or about entropy.

From The Guardian • Mar. 24, 2011

But the nature of gravitational interaction, and in particular the reason for the mysterious proportionality between gravitational mass and inertial mass, remained completely hidden for more than 200 years.

From Scientific American • Mar. 4, 2011

He wondered how much damage one could do with a nearly weightless stone, then remembered that inertial mass was unaffected by gravitational fields, or the lack of them.

From The Dueling Machine by Bova, Ben