A person stands on a bathroom scale in a motionless elevator. when the elevator begins to move, the scale briefly reads only 0.66 of the person's regular weight. calculate the acceleration of the elevator, and find the direction of acceleration. m/s2

Question

Starr

Physics

23 December, 03:53

A person stands on a bathroom scale in a motionless elevator. when the elevator begins to move, the scale briefly reads only 0.66 of the person's regular weight. calculate the acceleration of the elevator, and find the direction of acceleration. m/s2

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Andreas Salinas · Answer 1

The formula for weight is

W = mg = 9.81m, where m is the mass

Now, according to Newton's 2nd Law of motion,

F = ma

Since it is mentioned that the weight is now 0.66 of the original,

0.66W = ma

0.66 (9.81m) = ma

Cancelling out m,

a = 0.66 (9.81)

a = 6.47 m/s²

Since the weight is only a fraction of the original, it means that some of the weight is lifted off through the action of the elevator moving down. Thus, the direction of the acceleration is moving down.