Mass & Emittance: Does Heat Affect Mass?

  • Context: High School 
  • Thread starter Thread starter ABHoT
  • Start date Start date
  • Tags Tags
    Mass
Join the discussion
Ask a follow-up here, or get your own question answered by working scientists, mathematicians and engineers — people, not an autocomplete.
Real named experts · corrections over time · the nuance an AI answer skips
3 replies · 2K views
ABHoT
Messages
33
Reaction score
0
Is mass reduced by emittance?
If so if you heat an object would its mass reduce quicker?
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
ABHoT said:
Is mass reduced by emittance?

Yes.

If so if you heat an object would its mass reduce quicker?

No. It will either reduce slower or increase.
 
Last edited:
Thanks for the answer.
I think I'm missing something:

If you heat an object energy emission increases.
Mass is reduced by emmitance.
Heating an object increases its mass.

Am I mis-understanding what mass is?

If all matter/mass gives off radiation/electromagnetic waves and emmitance reduces mass does that mean that all mass in the universe is slowly turning into energy?
 
ABHoT said:
Thanks for the answer.
I think I'm missing something:

If you heat an object energy emission increases.
Mass is reduced by emmitance.
Heating an object increases its mass.

Ok, it depends are you referring to the mass before heating, or after. We are talking about thermal emissions. Object will cease to radiate energy when it reaches thermal equilibrium with its surroundings. So, if your question was "is energy content contributing to the mass content?", answer is yes. But if you omit radioactive processes, which require special conditions (temperature, pressure, or high atomic number for spontaneous decay), object can radiate only its 'energy content' (thermal energy, chemical bonds energy).