Difference between matter and mass

Click For Summary

Discussion Overview

The discussion revolves around explaining the difference between matter and mass, specifically through analogies rather than definitions. The context is informal and aimed at making the concepts accessible to a younger audience.

Discussion Character

  • Conceptual clarification

Main Points Raised

  • One participant suggests that mass is an essential quality of matter, proposing an analogy between food and calories to illustrate their relationship.
  • Another participant offers a different analogy, comparing mass to currency, where different values of coins and notes represent varying amounts of mass.
  • A third participant raises a question about the age of the daughter, indicating that the complexity of the explanations may vary significantly based on her age.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants generally agree on the need for analogies to explain the concepts, but there is no consensus on which analogy is more effective or appropriate, and the discussion remains open-ended regarding the best approach.

Contextual Notes

The discussion does not resolve how to tailor the explanations based on the daughter's age, leaving the effectiveness of the analogies uncertain.

xarita
Messages
1
Reaction score
0
please ...I need to explain to my daughter the difference between matter and mass...no definitions...an analogy will be good..:)
 
Physics news on Phys.org


Mass is an essential quality of matter, so the two are very related. Perhaps a good analogy is to food and calories. All food has calories like all mater has mass. Like mass, the amount of calories a food has depends on the type and quantity of food.
 


Or you could describe it being like currency, you get different values of currency, you have a variety or values of coins and notes.

Then the quantity of these determines how much money you actually have
 


An important piece of information for us to know is how old is your daughter? The answers you may get would be very different if she turned out to be 6 compared to 16 for example.
 

Similar threads

Graduate My modernization of Definition I in Newton's Principia
  • · Replies 14 ·
Replies
14
Views
2K
Undergrad Understanding the Relationship Between Mass and Matter
  • · Replies 7 ·
Replies
7
Views
8K
High School States of matter: "viscoelastic fluid", familiar term is "cream"
  • · Replies 5 ·
Replies
5
Views
982
Undergrad Distinctions among the concepts: mass, matter, energy
  • · Replies 1 ·
Replies
1
Views
2K
High School The nature of anti-particles and anti-matter (a dilettante asks)
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
High School Is It Possible to Remove Mass from Matter While Retaining Its Form?
  • · Replies 8 ·
Replies
8
Views
2K
Graduate Unusual request re: Matter and Dark matter and song lyrics
  • · Replies 6 ·
Replies
6
Views
1K
Undergrad Mass can turn into Energy, or is it Matter which can turn into energy?
  • · Replies 28 ·
Replies
28
Views
5K
Graduate The Human Body as a Dark Matter Detector
  • · Replies 3 ·
Replies
3
Views
2K
High School Questions about the structure of dark matter
  • · Replies 4 ·
Replies
4
Views
1K