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The Physics Teacher -- January 2012 -- Volume 50, Issue 1, pp. 12

How Can “Weightless” Astronauts be Weighed?

Jesus Carnicer1, Francisco Reyes2, and Jenaro Guisasola3

1Departamento de Física y Química del I.E.S. “Tháder” de Orihuela (Alicante, Spain)
2Departamento de Tecnología del I.E.S. “Gabriel Miró” de Orihuela (Alicante, Spain)
3Department of Applied Physics, University of the Basque Country

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In introductory physics courses, within the context of studying Newton's laws, it is common to consider the problem of a body's “weight” when it is in free fall. The solution shows that the “weight” is zero1 and this leads to a discussion of the concept of weight.2,3 There are permanent free-fall situations such as astronauts in a spacecraft orbiting the Earth, for example, the International Space Station. However, it is important for an astronaut's health to control any variations in his/her body mass while on the orbiting spacecraft. This paper examines the following scenario: How can astronauts be weighed while in free fall?

© 2012 American Association of Physics Teachers

KEYWORDS and PACS

Keywords

astronomy, educational courses, laboratory techniques, physics education, student experiments

PACS

  • 01.50.Pa

    Laboratory experiments and apparatus

PUBLICATION DATA

ISSN

0031-921X (print)  

Publisher

$abstract.society.value is a Member of CrossRef American Association of Physics Teachers

ARTICLE DATA

Digital Object Identifier
http://dx.doi.org/10.1119/1.3670074

  1. For more information see P. A. Tipler and G. Mosca, Physics, 5th ed. (W. H. Freeman, 2004), pp. 100–101.
  2. R. C. Morrison, “Weight and gravity—The need for consistent definitions,” Phys. Teach. 37, 51–52 (Jan. 1999)PHTEAH000037000001000051000001.
  3. P. Mohazzabi, “Why do we feel weightless in free fall?” Phys. Teach. 44, 240–242 (April 2006)PHTEAH000044000004000240000001.
  4. Documents from www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/science/experiments/Clinical-Nutrition-Assessment.html and www.terra.es/personal/flromera/como.htm#a5.
  5. www.pasco.com/datastudio/.

Figures (click on thumbnails to view enlargements)

FIG.1
NASA astronaut Garrett Reisman, Expedition 16 flight engineer, uses a body mass measurement device (BMMD) in the Zvezda Service Module of the International Space Station.

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FIG.2
Lab assembly for measuring inertial mass of a person.

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FIG.3
A sine curve was fit to a portion (shown in yellow) of the position-vs-time data for the oscillating chair.

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