Am I really weightless ?

[Hoomi]

Well, if we were truly weightless underwater, then the amount of water our bodies displace would make us so positively buoyant that we'd rocket to the surface faster than a sub-launched cruise missile.

 

[ianr33]

Gee did you all fail Physics or what!

Weight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<<The weight of an object in static equilibrium equals the magnitude of the gravitational force acting on the object, less the effect of its buoyancy in any fluid in which it might be immersed>>

When neutrally buoyant you are weightless. (Put a scale underneath you.What does it read? )

Your mass of course does not change.

 

[ianr33]

And while we are on the topic,which is heavier? A ton of feathers or a ton lead?

 

[Blackwood]

Blackwood, by my definition, you are not 'weightless' sitting in your chair because if you placed a scale under your butt, you could measure the force exerted on it.

If I jump out of an airplane with a scale taped to my feet, am I weightless?

 

[Blackwood]

Weight - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
<<The weight of an object in static equilibrium equals the magnitude of the gravitational force acting on the object, less the effect of its buoyancy in any fluid in which it might be immersed>>

The National Standard of Canada, CAN/CSA-Z234.1-89 Canadian Metric Practice Guide, January 1989:5.7.3 Considerable confusion exists in the use of the term "weight." In commercial and everyday use, the term "weight" nearly always means mass. In science and technology "weight" has primarily meant a force due to gravity. In scientific and technical work, the term "weight" should be replaced by the term "mass" or "force," depending on the application. 5.7.4 The use of the verb "to weigh" meaning "to determine the mass of," e.g., "I weighed this object and determined its mass to be 5 kg," is correct.

lol, apparently none of my physics texts came from Canada.

And while we are on the topic,which is heavier? A ton of feathers or a ton lead?

I'll go with lead since the feathers are attached to birds, and when a bird flies it's clearly weightless.

 

[imwright1985]

If I jump out of an airplane with a scale taped to my feet, am I weightless?

You are not weightless weight is a unit of force=mass *acceleration, the scale is accelerating with you so in relation to the scale your exibiting no force on it making you weightless to one object but not to the main picture which would be your free fall towards earth

 

[Scuba_HI]

You are not weightless weight is a unit of force=mass *acceleration, the scale is accelerating with you so in relation to the scale your exibiting no force on it making you weightless to one object but not to the main picture which would be your free fall towards earth

But it would read something from the drag it has flowing through the air

 

[imwright1985]

depends on the angle, everything has a dampening force except for a vacuum which results in drag in relation to the scale your velocity and acceleration would be either matched or close to matched which would create no force in relation to the scale

 

[Blackwood]

You are not weightless weight is a unit of force=mass *acceleration, the scale is accelerating with you so in relation to the scale your exibiting no force on it...

Precisely.

My point being that having weight isn't predicated on the ability to measure it with a spring scale. It's predicated on having mass in a gravity system.

 

[Breatholder]

MASS = "ANYTHING" that has WEIGHT and takes up space

even down to quark, therefore Weight is relative to its enviroment.
hence weighing 170 on earth and close to a ton on saturn and
non mesurable in space and only 80 in full gear submerged. Its all
about the enviorment the mass is in.