In physics, the reduced mass is the "effective" inertial mass appearing in the two-body problem of Newtonian mechanics. This is a quantity which allows the two-body problem to be solved as if it were a one-body problem. Note however that the mass determining the gravitational force is not reduced. In the computation one mass can be replaced by the reduced mass, if this is compensated by replacing the other mass by the sum of both masses. The reduced mass is frequently denoted by (Greek lower case mu); note however that the standard gravitational parameter is also denoted by . It has the dimensions of mass, and SI unit kg.
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Famous quotes containing the words reduced and/or mass:
““Write that down,” the King said to the jury, and the jury eagerly wrote down all three dates on their slates, and then added them up, and reduced the answer to shillings and pence.”
—Lewis Carroll [Charles Lutwidge Dodgson] (1832–1898)
“When over Catholics the ocean rolls,
They must wait several weeks before a mass
Takes off one peck of purgatorial coals,
Because, till people know what’s come to pass,
They won’t lay out their money on the dead—
It costs three francs for every mass that’s said.”
—George Gordon Noel Byron (1788–1824)