Accelerated scale

Classical Mechanics Level 2

Take a kitchen scale like this one is placed on the floor of an elevator with nothing on it , turn it on and press the "zero" button so that it reads zero. (On some scales this button is marked "tare.")

Send to the elevator to a higher floor so that the scale is accelerated upwards.

What will the scale display during the acceleration?

Nothing. It will shut off. A positive amount Zero A negative amount

Jeremy Galvagni by Jeremy Galvagni , 48, USA

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1 solution

Jeremy Galvagni
Aug 8, 2018

Even when it is not moving the scale sensor feels the weight of the top, it just displays this weight as zero.

When the scale is accelerated upward, the sensor will feel an increased force from that top and display the difference as A positive amount

1 Helpful 0 Interesting 0 Brilliant 0 Confused

It had better to add that to problem such (the kitchen scale is a digital device and has a load cell sensor).

Harison Allan - 2 years, 10 months ago

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As long as the scale displays the weight (afaik this is by the conventional definition of "scale" as opposed to "balance"), it should show the result of the elevator's artificial gravity on whatever component in the scale is used to measure the weight. No further specification would be needed.

I'm open to being wrong here, but that's my understanding.

Brian Moehring - 2 years, 10 months ago

It doesn't really matter how the scale measures the force. The answer would be the same if this were an old-fashioned spring-and-dial scale.

I included a picture to make it clear it is not a balance.

Jeremy Galvagni - 2 years, 10 months ago

This is a tricky question because this depends on how the scale works. For example, if it was a balance scale, then there would be no change.

Michael Mendrin - 2 years, 10 months ago

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All physics problems are tricky. I dislike them for that reason. But this idea occurred to me and I felt it worth sharing.

I made sure to include a picture to make it clear this is not a balance scale. I also added the word 'electronic', though I don't feel we need the specifics about how the scale turns a force into a number on the screen.

Jeremy Galvagni - 2 years, 10 months ago

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