The experimental solution of the elevator problem

Abstract

This paper combines the physics of the Atwood machine and the classic elevator problem. An Atwood machine equipped with accelerometers is used to determine the acceleration in the bodies’ frames. The product of this acceleration by the mass of the body gives us the weight of the body in that frame. The body that accelerates up weighs more than in the laboratory and the body that accelerates down weighs less. The elevator is then a particular case of this. The upward or downward accelerated motion of an elevator will have the same effect on the acceleration inside the elevator, as the acceleration of the bodies on an Atwood machine has on the accelerations in the bodies’ frames. The weight of a body inside the elevator is given by the product of mass and the inside acceleration, as the weight of the body in its own frame. As this acceleration is greater or smaller than the free fall acceleration in the laboratory, the body’s weight in an elevator will be greater or smaller than the weight in the laboratory.