I've just looked at that link , topsquark .... there is just one sentence in the whole article dealing with this subject , ...here it is ...
" We might distinguish two kinds of gravitational mass, active and passive. The active gravitational mass is the source of the object's gravitational field, while the passive gravitational mass responds to it. ..."
LOL .... who comes up with this stuff????
Do I have to point out the flaw in that??? It's that never has an item exhibited "passive" mass without also exhibiting so called "active" mass also !!
It's a theoretical game , a hypothesis that cannot be proved by experiment , doesn't help our calculations or understanding in anyway way !!!
In another 15 years these terms too will fade into obscurity ...
Just because an idea is partially accepted by mainstream does not mean it's correct ... we must resist the instinct to blindly believe 'authority' ...
Question everything !!
Um, wow.
"Who comes up with this stuff?" Professionals that know what they are talking about.
Newton's 2nd: \(\displaystyle \sum F = ma\)
Newton's Law of Gravity: \(\displaystyle F_G = \frac{Gm_1 m_2}{r^2}\)
There is nothing that says that the masses in these two equations should be the same. There is no practical difference as far as experimentation and calculations are concerned but no real theory that says why. And the controversy has been going on since Newton introduced these equations some 400 years ago. It's not going to go away in 15 years.
As it happens I do question authorities. Any professional scientist would say the same. (At least they had better. Experiments drive Physics.) And personally, anyone who says that I accept the mainstream without question clearly needs to read my master's thesis. And there have been any number of examples of Physicists that have fruitfully "bucked the system" in the past.
Look, if you want to think that the scientific community is there to make things more complicated then fine. I simply do not understand why you are trying to say otherwise. What is the point of doing this? No one is making money from this and no one is getting any fame from it. Given that, what purpose would it serve?
-Dan