In physics and engineering, mass flow rate is the mass of a substance which passes through a given surface per unit of time. Its unit is kilogram per second in SI units, and slug per second or pound per second in US customary units. The common symbol is (pronounced "m-dot"), although sometimes μ (Greek lowercase mu) is used.
Sometimes, mass flow rate is termed mass flux or mass current, see for example Fluid Mechanics, Schaum's et al. In this article, the (more intuitive) definition is used.
Read more about Mass Flow Rate: Definition, Alternative Equations, Usage, Analogous Quantities
Famous quotes containing the words mass, flow and/or rate:
“For half a mile from the shore it was one mass of white breakers, which, with the wind, made such a din that we could hardly hear ourselves speak.... This was the stormiest sea that we witnessed,more tumultuous, my companion affirmed, than the rapids of Niagara, and, of course, on a far greater scale. It was the ocean in a gale, a clear, cold day, with only one sail in sight, which labored much, as if it were anxiously seeking a harbor.... It was the roaring sea, thalassa exeessa.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)
“On the idle hill of summer,
Sleepy with the flow of streams,”
—A.E. (Alfred Edward)
“Put God in your debt. Every stroke shall be repaid. The longer the payment is withholden, the better for you; for compound interest on compound interest is the rate and usage of this exchequer.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (18031882)