2002/05/30 by Fran De Aquino, De Aquino, Fran
Physics and Astronomy · #Experimental and Theoretical Physics Studies #FOS: Physical sciences #General Physics (physics.gen-ph) #physics.gen-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.physics/0205089
7 pages, PDF. Added new appendix in substitution to the anterior
openalex publication_date 2002/05/30 · arxiv created 2002/10/31 · arxiv updated 2009/12/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
The physical property of mass has two distinct aspects, gravitational mass and inertial mass. The weight of a particle depends on its gravitational mass. According to the weak form of the equivalence principle, the gravitational and inertial masses are equivalent. But, we show here that they are correlated by a dimensionless factor, which can be different of one . The factor depends on the electromagnetic energy absorbed or emitted by the particle and of the index of refraction of the medium around the particle. This theoretical correlation has been experimentally proven by means of a very simple apparatus, presented here.