Is inertia related to mass? Inertia is a broad word, from the perspective of physics, the inertia of the motion of an object is only related to mass, and by extension to electromagnetism, heat, and nuclear physics, "inertia" has nothing to do with mass; From the perspective of other sciences (e.g., biology, chemistry, etc.), inertia is extended to "inevitable tendency" or "resistance", and from the sociological point of view, inertia is extended to "habit", which has nothing to do with quality.
In physics, inertia is the tendency of an object to maintain its current state, i.e., stationary or uniform motion in a straight line. There is a direct relationship between inertia and mass: the greater the mass of an object, the greater its inertia, i.e., the greater the mass of the object, the more difficult it is to change its state of motion. A massive object means that more force is required to change its state of motion. On the contrary, an object with a lesser mass has less inertia and can change its state of motion with less force. For example, pushing a truck full of goods and an empty truck with equal force, the truck with full goods accelerates more slowly because it has greater inertia. Inertia is the tendency of an object to maintain its current state, whether it is at rest or in motion, inertia is always present.
In junior high school physics textbooks, inertia is expressed as follows: "The property of an object that remains at rest or in a state of uniform linear motion is called inertia." Inertia is an intrinsic property of an object, which is manifested as a degree of resistance of an object to a change in its state of motion, and mass is a measure of the magnitude of an object's inertia. ”
Regardless of the situation of the object, inertia always exists, and when the external force (net force) acting on the object is zero, inertia is manifested as the object keeping its state of motion unchanged, that is, maintaining stationary or uniform linear motion; When the external force acting on the object is not zero, inertia is expressed as the degree of difficulty with which the external force changes the state of motion of the object. Under the action of the same external force, the object with less acceleration has a larger mass and greater inertia, and the object with greater acceleration has a smaller mass and less inertia. So inertia is a property of matter itself.
On the surface of the earth, inertia is often masked by effects such as friction and air resistance, which causes objects to move more and more slowly, a phenomenon that misled many ancient scholars, such as Aristotle, who believed that objects only move when an external force is applied. In modern times, with the development of space technology, space experiments have taught us that the motion of objects does not require force at all to maintain.
Special note: inertia is not the law of inertia, the law of inertia is Newton's first law. Inertia is the property of the object itself, while the law of inertia talks about the relationship between force and motion; Inertia is an inherent property of an object, and it cannot be said about an object"Gain inertia", can only say about objects"It has inertia"。
"Inertia" and "speed" are two concepts that many people are not clear. The magnitude of inertia is independent of how fast or slow the object is moving. "The faster the car moves, the greater its inertia"is incorrect. It is difficult to brake a fast-moving car because the faster the speed of movement, the more difficult it is to change the movement state of the car.
Other meanings of inertia have nothing to do with mass.
In the phenomenon of physical electromagnetic induction, when the magnetic flux changes through a closed coil, the induced current magnetic field always hinders the change in the magnetic flux. In physical heat, an object needs to continuously release heat outward in order to resist the drop in ambient temperature, and on the contrary, it needs to absorb heat.
In chemistry, when the temperature rises, the equilibrium chemical reaction always moves in the direction of endothermic to hinder the increase in temperature.
In biology, the self-regulation capacity of ecosystems reflects the inertia of nature. When one factor changes in the ecosystem, it leads to changes in other factors, but after a period of adjustment, a new equilibrium can be restored.
In social life, habits are difficult to change once they are formed. The profound historical and cultural influence on people's values cannot be changed in a short period of time.
Inertial thinking. That is, a mindset is a special state of mental readiness or tendency formed by previous activities for later activities, which hinders people from innovating.
The above examples are too numerous to mention.