The word "scales" has several meanings and causes various associations in a person. Astronomy lovers probably thought about the constellation, astrologers - about the zodiac sign, and most of the upcoming trip to the store or market for groceries. We constantly encounter weight measurement in our everyday life and do not even think about the ancient history of this device and how far a person has advanced in its improvement.
What is a lever scale?
When it comes to weighing the masses of any goods or chemical ingredients, most often imagine a small rocker with two shawls (bowls) and an arrow, on one of which is placed a body whose weight must be determined, and on the second - standard weights, and achieve their equilibrium. To measure small masses, equal-arm scales are used, and for large loads, a device with a lever shifted relative to the middle (single-arm and unequal lever scales) is used.
A bit of history
What do you think, when people came up with a device for measuring mass? Archaeologists who excavated in Mesopotamia believe that the first lever scales appeared another five thousand years BC. And the very first written mention of this device was found in the "Book of the Dead" of the ancient Egyptians, which was written around 1250 BC. The document tells about the equal-arms rocker, which the god Anubis used to weigh the heart of the deceased. On the first side of the scale was a figurine depicting the ancient Egyptian goddess of justice, Maat, and on the second lay the heart of the deceased. The fate of the soul depended on the outcome of such weighing: when the “justice” was outweighed, it went to heaven, and when the heart was outweighed, the torments of hell awaited her.
An equal-arm lever scale was also widely used in
Ancient Babylon. In Eastern Turkey, a stone stella (the first millennium BC) is still preserved, which shows a Hitt using his finger instead of a rocker. After this, historical facts indicate that to determine the mass of people began to use a new principle, which consists in the use of a mobile weight with a constant point of support of the gain. Lever scales of a new sample appear in ancient Rome and have a pair of hook-shaped handles and two scales. One of the first tools of this type was found in Pompeii. In the 12th century AD, Arab scientists already knew the weight equipment, which allowed an error of 0.1%, which allowed it to be used to reject
counterfeit money, jewelry, and also used to determine the density of bodies.
The definition of mass in our time
Despite the fact that electronics in the modern world is increasingly replacing mechanics, the linkage mechanism is still popular and is universally used to determine mass. At the same time, medical, laboratory, commercial, technical scales, working without the use of electronics, have long since given way to modern instruments and are turning into little by little antiques. Technology is developing so rapidly in our time that perhaps our grandchildren will be able to see the good old weights only in museums. However, for us, the symbol of the scales will always look like two small cups suspended on a small thin beam.