Answer to Question #121143 in Classical Mechanics for Lizwi

Question

You stand on a spring scale placed on the ground and read your weight from the dial. You then take the scale into an elevator. Does the dial reading increase, decrease, or stay the same when the elevator accelerates downward as it moves upward?
1 : Increase
2 : Decrease
3 : Stay the same

Answer 1

When the elevator will accelerate in downward direction then a pseudo-force will start acting on the body in a direction opposite of the motion of the frame (here elevator) hence force acting on the spring scale will be lesser than what was before and hence the dial will decrease