Working mass Working mass Working mass, also referred to as reaction mass, is a mass against which a system operates in order to produce acceleration. In the case of a rocket, for example, the reaction mass is the fuel shot backwards to provide propulsion. All acceleration requires an exchange of momentum, which can be thought of as the "unit of movement". Momentum is related to mass and velocity, as given by the formula "P = mv," where "P" is the momentum, "m" the mass, and "v" the velocity. The velocity of a body is easily changeable, but in most cases the mass
Relaxation (physics) test star has velocity "v". As the star moves along its orbit, its motion will be randomly perturbed by the gravitational field of nearby stars. The relaxation time can be shown to be where "ρ" is the mean density, "m" is the test-star mass, "σ" is the 1d velocity dispersion of the field stars, and ln "Λ" is the Coulomb logarithm. Various events occur on timescales relating to the relaxation time, including core collapse, energy equipartition, and formation of a Bahcall-Wolf cusp around a supermassive black hole. Relaxation (physics) In the physical sciences, relaxation usually means the return of a