Question

At the bow of a ship on a stormy sea, a crewman conducts an experiment by standing on a bathroom scale. In calm waters, the scale reads 172 lb. During the storm, the crewman finds a maximum reading of 215 lb and a minimum reading of 131 lb. Calculate the maximum upward and downward acceleration experienced by the crewman.

Answer 1

The man's mass is
M = 172/g = 5.34 slugs
The mass does not change with acceleration

Maximum upward acceleration "a" occurs when
M(a + g) = 215 lb
a + g = 215/172 = 40.3 ft/s^2
a = 40.3 - 32.2 = 8.1 ft/s^2

Maximum downward acceleration " a' " occurs when

M(g - a') = 131
g - a' = 24.5 ft/s^2
a' = 37.7 ft/s^2

Answer 2

your answer is not right