a person stands on a bathroom scale in a motionless elevator. when the elevator begins to move, the scale briefly reads only .75 of the persons regular wieght. calculate the acceleration of the elevator, and find the direction of acceleration.(ans 2.5 m/s^2, and down) confused on how to start this problem, need help!!!!
weightonscale=weight(1+acceleration/g) where g is 9.8m/s^2, you maybe using 10m/s^2 as an ridiculous approximation. Nowhere on Earth is the acceleration due to gravity 10m/s^2, but apparently your text does.
Here, you are given weightonscale/weight= .75, so
.75=(1+acceleration/g)
acceleration will be negative, which means downward.
Typically, Sarah, the acceleration on an elevator is about .5m/s^2 max, either up or down. Changes faster than this make people have fits of nausea.
http://hypertextbook.com/facts/2005/elevator.shtml
0 answers