rest mass


nounPhysics.
  1. the mass of a body as measured when the body is at rest relative to an observer, an inherent property of the body.

Origin of rest mass

1
First recorded in 1910–15

Words Nearby rest mass

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use rest mass in a sentence

  • It would have produced ten thousand million times as much energy as the total disintegration of the rest mass would have produced!

    Hanging by a Thread | Gordon Randall Garrett

British Dictionary definitions for rest mass

rest mass

noun
  1. the mass of an object that is at rest relative to an observer. It is the mass used in Newtonian mechanics

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Scientific definitions for rest mass

rest mass

  1. In Special and General Relativity, the observed mass of a body that is not in motion with respect to the observer. Also called invariant mass Compare relativistic mass.

The American Heritage® Science Dictionary Copyright © 2011. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.