A simple definition for the mass is amount of matter inside an object. This definition came into picture around 1600s and the balance scale is existing for thousands of years. How these two are related to each other and why do we think the balance scale is best suited for comparing the amount of matter inside two object?
The actual functionality behind the balance scale is gravity. It means the objects being compared in balance scale are gravitationally equal in strength (not the amount of matter) to the earth.
Further details about the question and my analysis is available at the following link.
http://www.vixra.org/abs/1006.0049
(Did We Get the Fundamentals in Physics Wrong?)
Posted on: June 28, 2010.