High School

John weight's on the ground is 145lb. John enters an elevator and stands on a scale. In its way up, the elevator is able to uniformly accelerate from zero to 2m/s in 5s.
a. What does the scale read before the elevator starts moving up

Answer :

Before the elevator begins moving, the scale reads John's actual weight, which is simply his mass times the acceleration due to gravity (9.81 m/s^2).

Before the elevator starts moving up, the scale John is standing on should read his actual weight because it is not accelerating. Since weight is the force due to gravity, it can be calculated using the formula w = mg, where m is the mass and g is the acceleration due to gravity (approximately 9.81 m/s2). To find the weight in Newtons, you need to convert John's weight from pounds to kilograms (1 pound is approximately 0.453592 kilograms) and then calculate the weight using the formula mentioned. Once you have the weight in Newtons, you can use it for further calculations when the elevator starts accelerating.