A person conducts an experiment in which he rides in an elevator while standing on a set of scales that displays his weight in pounds (Fig. a). Let a be the elevator's upward acceleration rela tive to the earth. The forces acting on the person are his weight W = 150 lb and the force N exerted on him by the scales (Fig. b).
(a) If the scales read 155 lb, what is the elevator acceleration?
(b) If the elevator acceleration is a = -2 ft/s2 , what do the scales read?
