Chapter 1Matter and Masses
Matter is a loose scientific term that refers to an object or substance. Anything you can see or touch is considered matter. How the substance behaves is determined, to a large degree, by the type of matter.
In plain English, the term mass means a blob or hunk of something, as in “A giant mass fell from the sky and hit the shed.” In physics, the term mass has a different meaning.
In this chapter, we explore matter and masses. Understanding these terms and how they relate to physics will help you understand later chapters.
Matter
There are, for the purposes of animation, three types of matter:
Solids—Anything that holds together on its own to form a particular mass or shape. Bowling balls, ice, and skin are all considered ...
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