A child accelerates upwards in an elevator which causes his apparent weight to become 405 N. Determine the magnitude of the elevator's acceleration if his normal weight is 400 N?
7 years ago
Answered By Jason H
Force=Mass x Acceleration
400N = Mass x gravity
Knowing gravity, this will give you the mass.
405N = Mass x (gravity+acceleration of elevator)
If you have mass from the previous formula, you can now get the magnitude of the acceleration for the elevator.
7 years ago
Answered By Victor A
The question deals with a classical application of Newton’s second law to the forces felt in an elevator. If you are accelerating upward you feel heavier, and if you are accelerating downward you feel lighter. If the elevator cable broke, you would feel weightless since both you and the elevator would be accelerating downward at the same rate.
Also, there is a file (pdf format) that deals with the specific situation the student asked for. I would be very pleased to send it by email. Please feel free to email me at anezvictor@hotmail.com
You can watch a video (11 min) that explains the problem of an elevator, again under the scenario of the question. This is the link: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/forces-newtons-laws/normal-contact-force/v/normal-force-in-an-elevator
7 years ago
Answered By Jason H
Force=Mass x Acceleration
400N = Mass x gravity
Knowing gravity, this will give you the mass.
405N = Mass x (gravity+acceleration of elevator)
If you have mass from the previous formula, you can now get the magnitude of the acceleration for the elevator.
7 years ago
Answered By Victor A
The question deals with a classical application of Newton’s second law to the forces felt in an elevator. If you are accelerating upward you feel heavier, and if you are accelerating downward you feel lighter. If the elevator cable broke, you would feel weightless since both you and the elevator would be accelerating downward at the same rate.
Also, there is a file (pdf format) that deals with the specific situation the student asked for. I would be very pleased to send it by email. Please feel free to email me at anezvictor@hotmail.com
You can watch a video (11 min) that explains the problem of an elevator, again under the scenario of the question. This is the link: https://www.khanacademy.org/science/physics/forces-newtons-laws/normal-contact-force/v/normal-force-in-an-elevator
I hope this can address the question asked.