How to Weigh Things by Looking at Them
How to Weigh Things by Looking at Them
The development and use of scales was critical to trade, the creation of money and thus the evolution of human society. Weight and mass are used somewhat interchangeably for day-to-day objects, but need to be differentiated as objects become smaller and smaller. Once we reach scales much smaller than the width of human hair, gravity is no longer the dominant force experienced by objects and can thus not be used to quantify objects by ‘weighing’ them. Instead, we need to measure their mass, which corresponds to the amount of matter in an object.
Aspen Center for Physics
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05:30 PM - 06:30 PM on Wed, 8 Jan 2025
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