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A Video showing you how Weightlessness Happens
Ok, so here's a video to help you understand weightlessness, or "zero g."
What we have here is a scale with a chunk of metal hanging on it. The scale
clearly shows how heavy the metal is (about 5 Newtons, or 1.1 pounds).
Now, if for some reason the metal became "weightless" (like it was in the Space Shuttle), the scale
would read zero (weightless = zero weight), and the metal float around, like the astronauts.
The question is: What do you think happens to the reading on the scale when both the metal and scale fall freely towards the ground?
(Note: The scale and metal remain attached to each other, and will remain oriented as shown.)
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What do you think? What will happen to the reading on the scale, if the whole thing is dropped?
The reading will stay the same.
The reading will change.
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