Final answer:
Mass is directly related to inertia, which is an object's resistance to changes in motion. An object with more mass has greater inertia and requires a greater force to achieve the same acceleration as a lighter one. Acceleration is inversely proportional to mass when the same force is applied.
Step-by-step explanation:
The relationship between mass and inertia is a fundamental concept in Physics. Inertia is the resistance of any physical object to any change in its velocity, and is a measure of how difficult it is to change the motion of an object. The more mass an object has, the greater its inertia, meaning it will resist changes to its velocity more strongly. For example, it is much more difficult to push a stationary boulder into motion than it is to push a basketball because the boulder has more mass and thus more inertia.
Furthermore, the inertial mass of an object is a measure of the difficulty to alter its state of uniform motion under the action of an external force. A larger mass implies greater inertia, so a larger force is needed to achieve the same acceleration compared to an object with less mass. This relationship is crucial in applying Newton's laws of motion. The mass of an object does not depend on gravity and remains constant regardless of location, whether on Earth or in space.
It is also important to notice that acceleration is inversely proportional to the mass of an object. When a force is applied to two objects of different masses, the object with less mass will accelerate more than the one with greater mass, provided the force is the same. This illustrates how mass directly impacts an object's inertia and affects how it moves when forces are applied.