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(https://www.studyadda.com/notes/railways/79/basic-science-and-engineering/34) / Mass,
Weight and Density

Railways Basic Science and Engineering Mass, Weight and Density

Mass, Weight and Density

Category : Railways

Mass, Weight and Density

Mass

The mass (m) of a body of matter is quantitative measure of its inertia i.e., its resistance to a change in the
state of rest or motion of the body, when a force is applied.

SI unit of mass is the kilogram (kg). It is a scalar quantity.

The greater the mass of a body, the smaller the rate of change in motion.

Inertia is the property of a mass which resists change from its states of rest or motion.

The inertia of an object refers to the reluctance of the object to start moving if it is stationary in the
first instance or the reluctance of the object to stop moving if it rs moving in the first instance.
When a body of matter is stationary, it needs a force to make it start moving. The bigger the mass,
the bigger the force needed. We say that masses have inertia: a reluctance to start moving.

Volume (V) is defined as the amount of space occupied by a three-dimensional object as measured in cubic
units.

SI unit of volume is meter cube .It is a scalar quantity.

Weight

The weight of an object is defined as the force of gravity on the object and may be calculated as the mass
times the acceleration of gravity, w = mg. Since the weight is a force, its SI unit is the

Newton.

For an object in free fall, so that gravity is the only force acting on it,

Then the expression for weight follows from Newton's second law.


The value of g allows us to determine the net gravity force if it were in freefall and that net gravity force is
the weight. Another approach is to consider "g" to be the measure of the intensity of

Ac gravity field in Newtons/kg at our location. We can view the weight as a measure of the mass in kg times
the intensity of the gravity field, 9.8 Newton's/kg under standard conditions.

Density

Density (p) is defined as the mass of a substance per unit volume.

SI unit of density is kilograms per meter cube (kg It is a scalar quantity.

−3
m )

Another common unit of density is

−3 −3 −3 −3 −3 −3
g cm g cm .1000 kg m = 1 g cm 1000 kg m = 1 g cm

ρ = mV

The density of a substance does not change as we move from place to place as the mass and
volume does not depend on the gravitational acceleration of the point that the object is at.

There are two kinds of density, "weight density" and "mass density". We will only use mass density and when
we say: "density", its means "mass density".

The metric system was designed so that water will have a density of one gram per cubic centimeter or 1000
kilograms per cubic meter. Lead is about 10 times as dense as water and Styrofoam is about one tenth as
dense as water.

Fluid Density

Mass per unit volume is defined as density. So density at a point of a fluid is represented as

Δm dm
ρ = lim =
ΔV →0 ΔV dV

where m is the mass and v is the volume of the fluid. Density is a positive scalar quantity.

SI unit: kg/m3

Dimensions: [M L−3 T 0 ]

For a solid body volume and density will be same as that of its constituent substance of equal mass.

i.e.Mbody = M sub thenVbody = Vsub andρbody = ρsub .

But for a hollow body or body with air gaps

M body = M sub andVbody > Vsub thenρbody < ρ

sub

If m1 mass of liquid of density ρ1 and m2 mass of liquid of density ρ2 are mixed then,
m1 m2
M M I X = m1 + m2 andVM I X = V1 + V2 = +
ρ1 ρ2

M mix m1 + m2
∴ ρ mix = =
V mix m1 + m2
−−
− −−
−
ρ1 ρ2

If same masses are mixed, i.e.m1 = m2 = m then

2ρ1 ρ2
ρ mix = (harmonic mean of individual densities)
ρ1 + ρ2

If V1 volume of liquid of density ρ1 andV2 volume of liquid of density ρ2 are mixed then

VM I X = V1 + V2 and, 
 M M I X = m1 + m2 = ρ 1 V 1 + ρ 2 V 2

M mix ρ 1 V1 + ρ 2 V2
∴ ρ mix = =
V mix V1 + V2

If same volumes are mixed, i.e.V1 = V2 = V then,

ρ1 + ρ2
ρ mix = (arithmetic mean of individual densities)
2

Specific Weight or Weight Density (W)

It is defined as the ratio of the weight of the fluid to its volume or the weight acting per unit volume of the
fluid.

W eight
Specific weight, W =
V olume

mg m
W = = [ ] g = ρg
V V

S I Unit:N /m3 Dimensions:[M L−2 T −2 ]

Specific weight of pure water at 4∘ C is 9.81 kN /m

3

Relative Density

It is defined as the ratio of the density of the given fluid to the density of pure water at 4∘ C

Density of given liquid

Density of given liquid

Relative density (R.D).= ∘
Density of pure water at 4 C

The density of water is maximum at 4 and is equal to 1.0 × 10

∘ 3 −3
C kgm

Relative density or specific gravity is a unitless and dimensionless positive scalar physical quantity.

Being a dimensionless/unitless quantity R.D. of a substance is same in SI and CGS system.

Specific Gravity

It is defined as the ratio of the specific weight of the given fluid to the specific weight of pure water at4 ,
∘
C

Specific gravity

S pecif ic weight of given liquid

=
∘ 3
S pecif ic weight of pure water at 4 C (9.81kN /m )

ργ × g ργ
= = =R.D. of the liquid
ρw × g ρw

Thus specific gravity of a liquid is numerically equal to the relative density of that liquid and for calculation
purposes they are used interchangeably.

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