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mass, in physics

(Encyclopedia)mass, in physics, the quantity of matter in a body regardless of its volume or of any forces acting on it. The term should not be confused with weight, which is the measure of the force of gravity (se...

Mass, in Christianity

(Encyclopedia)Mass, religious service of the Roman Catholic Church, which has as its central act the performance of the sacrament of the Eucharist. It is based on the ancient Latin liturgy of the city of Rome, now ...

dimension, in physics

(Encyclopedia)dimension, in physics, an expression of the character of a derived quantity in relation to fundamental quantities, without regard for its numerical value. In any system of measurement, such as the met...

nucleus, in physics

(Encyclopedia)nucleus, in physics, the extremely dense central core of an atom. Following the discovery of radioactivity by A. H. Becquerel in 1896, Ernest Rutherford identified two types of radiation given off b...

physics

(Encyclopedia)physics, branch of science traditionally defined as the study of matter, energy, and the relation between them; it was called natural philosophy until the late 19th cent. and is still known by this na...

contraction, in physics

(Encyclopedia)contraction, in physics: see expansion. ...

dispersion, in physics

(Encyclopedia)dispersion, in physics: see spectrum. ...

phase, in physics

(Encyclopedia)phase, in physics: see wave.

illumination, in physics

(Encyclopedia)illumination, in physics: see lighting; photometry. ...

period, in physics

(Encyclopedia)period, in physics: see harmonic motion; wave. ...