UKC

puzzled of high peak writes "when i weigh myself, and the scales are on a hardwood floor, i weigh 12st. when, moments later, i weigh myself on the same scales but on a carpeted floor i end up weighing 12st 7. what the heck's going on? isn't it a case of equal and opposite reactions? surely i weigh the same whatever surface i'm on?"

discuss

In reply to martin k: would that aply to the surface of the moon?

In reply to martin k:

It's the extra gravitational pull of the carpet.

In reply to martin k: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn2462

In reply to martin k:

Oy gevalt. Stand on a floor scale. Now lean back and forth and watch what happens.

In reply to martin k:
Well if you've got a really springy carpet the pile will be pushing up at the same time that your body weight is pushing down; thus producing a greater 'compression' force which the scales reflect. The wood floor just quietly lies there doing nothing.
OR
Walking across the carpet has produced a static charge in your body which is attracting the base of the scales thus producing a higher measurement.
OR
There is a gravitational anomaly in your house.
OR
You really have to stop binge snacking as you walk around you various weighing sites, martin.

In reply to martin k:

is it not the three and a half bags of sugar you just stuffed into your pockets?

In reply to morphus:

Great, isn't it... Four Cambridge students do a final year project on why people weight more on carpetted flooring, and an article in New Scientist to boot. What's education coming to?

In reply to Andy Say:

Yeh, sounds like a problem of piles...

In reply to bergalia:
Increasing his weight by seven pounds? Don't go there!

In reply to morphus:

WOW Martin K can read and article and reproduce it ...well spotted Morphus and another later on

have you see the video...

youtube.com/watch?v=ztYnh1dD7MI&

In reply to Pythonist:


Er

That's one of the jobs of "science" - to explain commonly observed everyday phenomena. I don't have a problem with it (I didn't read the article but I am aware of the question, it came up a few years ago). A final-year project doesn't tend to take a year. My final year undergrad project didn't take long at all (and most of the lab time was spent in a coffee shop due to accessibility issues)