Re: Kinds of Mass

[Ludwik Kowalski <KowalskiL@MAIL.MONTCLAIR.EDU>]

I would be happy to accept that the inertia versus mass
dichotomy is now only a historical episode. The ratio of masses
of two objects by comparing weights in a given location are
always identical, at the level of the most precise measurements,
with the ratio of their accelerations under identical forces. One
word one concept and that is it. There are more important
issues to use our limited time on, except in a history of science
course. Would this be acceptable to everybody on the list?
Ludwik Kowalski

Richard Tarara wrote:

> Well, if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a
> duck........
>
> I guess I don't understand why we hold onto the dual nomenclature.
> Yes the conceptual origins suggested there might be a difference, but
> it seems that the experiments are pretty convincing that inertial and
> gravitational mass are identical.  Why continue to speak of these
> separately?  Are they ever different?  ...