- #1
Bashyboy
- 1,421
- 5
I am reading about dynamics, and I am looking at this example problem (it is attached as a file).
So, first I am imagining the elevator without the assisted downward acceleration. In this case, the acceleration due to gravity on the woman and the normal force provided by the scale cancel each other out. Now, as the elevator starts to accelerate downwards, the woman experiences her own inertia by the weightlessness, and the downward acceleration of the elevator can be thought to become the "new" or "pseudo" acceleration due to gravity. The scale reads her as being lighter because this "pseudo" acceleration due to gravity is weaker than the true acceleration due to gravity. Is this erroneous thinking? If not, could someone perhaps supply more elaboration--or clarity, if it not worded exactly eloquently--on this thought process?
Thank you
So, first I am imagining the elevator without the assisted downward acceleration. In this case, the acceleration due to gravity on the woman and the normal force provided by the scale cancel each other out. Now, as the elevator starts to accelerate downwards, the woman experiences her own inertia by the weightlessness, and the downward acceleration of the elevator can be thought to become the "new" or "pseudo" acceleration due to gravity. The scale reads her as being lighter because this "pseudo" acceleration due to gravity is weaker than the true acceleration due to gravity. Is this erroneous thinking? If not, could someone perhaps supply more elaboration--or clarity, if it not worded exactly eloquently--on this thought process?
Thank you
Attachments
Last edited: