Question

At the bow of a ship on a stormy sea, a crewman conducts an experiment by standing on a bathroom scale. In calm waters, the scale reads 182lbs. During the storm, the crewman finds a max reading of 225lbs and a minimum reading of 138lbs A. find the max upward acceleration B. find the max downward acceleration

use apparent weight formulas

Answer 1

We use the mass of the crew man is equivalent to his weight in calm water:
m = 182 lb

Now, the maximum downward acceleration:
(225 - 182)/182 = a
a = 0.24 ft/s²

The maximum upward acceleration:
(182 - 138) / 182 = a
a = 0.24 ft/s²