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shibbysan
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I'm new here and not sure if this post is in the right spot (it's about Special Relativity) but here goes nothing.
This problem--from the book Spacetime Physics by Taylor and Wheeler--is giving me a lot of trouble.
What I think is that the scale will read zero in the air, because there is no force to be the reciprocal of your mass pushing down. What I don't understand totally is when it is in free float. I understand that free float is trying to isolate a small frame where the effects of gravity can be ignored (special relativity), but how does one explain what is happening with the scale and the trampoline?
This problem--from the book Spacetime Physics by Taylor and Wheeler--is giving me a lot of trouble.
Fasten a weight-measuring bathroom scale under your feet and bounce up and down on a trampoline while reading the scale. Describe readings on the scale at different times during the bounces. During what part of each jump will the scale have zero reading? Neglecting air resistance, what is the longest part of the cycle during which you might consider yourself to be in a free-float frame?
What I think is that the scale will read zero in the air, because there is no force to be the reciprocal of your mass pushing down. What I don't understand totally is when it is in free float. I understand that free float is trying to isolate a small frame where the effects of gravity can be ignored (special relativity), but how does one explain what is happening with the scale and the trampoline?