You know your mass is 62 kg but when you stand on a bathroom scale in an elevator it says your mass is 77 kg what is the acceleration of the elevator

In a stationary situation, the weight of person is

This is the weight "felt" by the scale, which is basically the normal reaction applied by the scale on the person, and which uses the value of g (9.81) as reference to convert the weight (602.8 N) into a mass (62 kg).

When the person is in the elevator, the scale says 77 kg. The scale is still using the same value of conversion (9.81), so the apparent weight "felt" by the scale is

This is the normal reaction applied by the scale on the person, and which is directed upward. Besides this force, there is still the weight W of the person, acting downward. So, if we use Newton's second law:


where a is the acceleration of the elevator. If we solve for a, we find

The negative sign means the acceleration is in the opposite direction of g (which we take positive), so it means the elevator is going upward.

Answer choice a test prep