The term “mass” is used to refer to the amount of matter in any given object. Mass is often confused with weight: to the contrary, weight is a reference that relies on gravity on its determination. For instance, a person or object may be weightless on the moon because of the lack of gravity, but that same person or object maintains the same mass regardless of location. Knowledge of mass is crucial in science.
Mass of Solar Objects
Here are some examples of mass of solar objects and their type:
Solar Object / Mass / Type of Object
- Sol / (1.9891 x 1030 kg) / star
- Jupiter / (1.899 x 1027 kg) / 5th planet
- Saturn / (5.6846 x 1026 kg) / 6th planet
- Neptune / (1.0243 x 1026 kg) / 8th planet
- Uranus / (8.6832 x 1025 kg) / 7th planet
- Earth / (5.9736 x 1024 kg) / 3rd planet
- Venus / (4.8685 x 1024 kg) / 2nd planet
- Mars / (6.4185 x 1023 kg) / 4th planet
- Mercury / (3.302 x 1023 kg) / 1st planet
- Luna / (7.349 x 1022 kg) / satellite of Earth
- Ganymede / (1.482 x 1023 kg) / satellite of Jupiter
- Callisto / (1.076 x 1023 kg) / satellite of Jupiter
- Io / (8.94 x 1022 kg) / satellite of Jupiter
- Europa / (4.80 x 1022 kg) / satellite of Jupiter
- Titan / (1.345 x 1023 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Rhea / (2.3166 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Iapetus / (1.9739 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Hyperion / (1.08 x 1019 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Dione / (1.096 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Tethys / (6.173 x 1020 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Enceladus / (1.08 x 1020 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Mimas / (3.752 x 1019 kg) / satellite of Saturn
- Ariel / (1.35 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Uranus
- Titania / (3.526 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Uranus
- Oberon / (3.014 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Uranus
- Umbriel / (1.2 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Uranus
- Miranda / (6.59 x 1019 kg) / satellite of Uranus
- Triton / (2.147 x 1022 kg) / satellite of Neptune
- Nereid / (3.1 x 1019 kg) / satellite of Neptune
- Proteus / (5 x 1019 kg) / satellite of Neptune
- Charon / (1.52 +/- 0.06 x 1021 kg) / satellite of Pluto
- Eris / (~1.5 x 1022 kg) / dwarf planet
- Pluto / (1.305 +/- 0.007 x 1022 kg) / dwarf planet
- Haumea / (4.2 +/- 0.1 x 1021 kg) / dwarf planet
- Makemake / (~4 x 1021 kg) / dwarf planet
- 1 Ceres / (9.5 x 1020 kg) / dwarf planet
- 90377 Sedna / (~3 x 1021 kg) / TNO
- 50000 Quaoar / (~2 x 1021 kg) / TNO
- 90482 Orcus / (~6.2 x 1020 kg) / TNO
- 28978 Ixion / (6 x 1020 kg) / TNO
- 20000 Varuna / (~5.9 x 1020 kg) / TNO
- 4 Vesta / (2.7 x 1020 kg) / asteroid
- 2 Pallas / (2.2 x 1020 kg) / asteroid
- 10 Hygiea / (9.0 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 704 Interamnia / (7 x 1019 kg)/ asteroid
- 52 Europa / (~5 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 511 Davida / (3.6 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 15 Eunomia / (3.3 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 3 Juno / (3.0 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 16 Psyche / (~1.7 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 31 Euphrosyne / (~1.69 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 87 Sylvia / (1.478 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 6 Hebe / (~1.4 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 624 Hektor / (~1.4 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 65 Cybele / (~1.15 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 7 Iris / (1.0 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
- 324 Bamberga / (1.0 x 1019 kg) / asteroid
These are all examples of different solar objects along with the mass of each object. Every object has its own unique amount of matter and thus has its own mass.
Mass and Energy
Mass is considered to be the equivalent of the energy content of the object. There is a famous equation created by Einsteinthat allows you to convert mass to energy content.
The equation is: E=mc2
In this equation, E= energy; m = mass and C= the speed of light. If you know the energy of an object, or its mass and the speed of light, you can then use this equation to determine the missing element in the equation.
